Chapter 257: Sudden Downturn

Zi-la—zi-la—

In the comms channel, the shrill screams and chaotic gunfire were torn apart by the electric current, finally merging into a noise that made scalps tingle.

They've burrowed in! Damn! They're burrowing in through the armor seams!

Don't touch me! Ahhh—my face!

Fire! Fire at me! Please!

On the outskirts of the district, the steel defense line constructed by the Federation's finest troops was completely overwhelmed by that white worm swarm in just a few tens of seconds.

Those bone worms individually aren't strong; they're even weaker than an adult vicious dog.

But there are far too many of them.

Their numbers are endless.

They can infiltrate any opening, crawling into tank exhaust pipes and the joints of soldiers' armor, then frenziedly gnawing from within.

Even the sturdiest fortifications first crumble from within.

One soldier watched helplessly as several bone worms pounced on his comrade; the man didn't even have time to scream before being sucked dry into a desiccated human skin still wrapped in his battle uniform within seconds.

Fear spreads faster than the plague.

The defense line collapsed.

Right in the center of this hell on earth.

Liang Wen's figure stood as straight as a spear.

He slowly raised his head, gazing at the white surge rushing toward him, his face showing no fear, instead revealing an exaggerated, lament-like pity.

Wail, lost lambs.

The abyss of sin is not your rightful home.

He lifted an extraordinarily oddly shaped heavy weapon, resembling countless gun barrels bound together, and rested it on his shoulder.

The weapon was nearly as tall as him, pitch-black all over, with a faint blue energy glow flickering at the muzzle.

Let this lord grant you eternal rest.

Abyss Hymn, First Form—

All sounds cease!

He pulled the trigger.

There was no roar of artillery, no ejection of shells.

Only a visible ring of pure energy ripples spread forward in a fan shape.

Wherever the ripple passed, space showed a slight distortion.

The thousands of bone worms at the forefront had their bodies solidify in midair the instant they touched the ripple.

Immediately after, their bony bodies, like biscuits crushed by an invisible hand, silently turned into sky‑filling crumbs.

One strike.

Ahead of the worm swarm, a vacuum zone over fifty meters in diameter was forcibly cleared.

The surviving soldiers stared, agape, almost forgetting to fire.

However, this brief shock was quickly replaced by greater despair.

In the command channel, the hoarse voice of the Technology Department head sounded again.

Warning! Energy fluctuations at the target Bone City have surged again!

Its wound is healing...... no! It's evolving!

On the screen, the massive breach in Bone City made by the spirit‑enriched depleted‑uranium shells was teeming with countless buds writhing at an unimaginable speed.

But this time, the newly grown tissue was no longer pallid bone.

Rather, it was a carapace plating that gleamed with metallic luster and was covered in strange black patterns.

It...... it analyzed our weapons' energy frequency and generated a biological armor with high resistance!

Our attacks...... have become ineffective!

The words had not yet faded.

The armed helicopter hovering in the air unleashed fire again, a dozen or so blue‑tinged depleted‑uranium shells striking precisely the newly formed black carapace.

The result.

Aside from sputtering weak sparks, not even a decent scar was left.

Everyone felt a bone‑deep chill.

This monster learns in battle, evolves in battle.

It is becoming ever stronger, ever harder to comprehend.

Just then.

Boom—

The ground shuddered violently.

A 99‑style main battle tank retreating suddenly had its hull thrust upward.

A bone spur as thick as a water bucket erupted without warning from beneath the asphalt, piercing the tank's underside armor and hoisting the fifty‑ton steel beast high into the air.

Before the crew inside could react,

Crack—

The ground beneath the tank split open into a bottomless fissure.

No.

That is not a fissure.

That is a...... mouth.

A gigantic mouth made of twisted cement, Reinforced Steel Bar and countless sharp teeth.

It opened to its limit and in one bite swallowed the main battle tank suspended in mid‑air, together with its crew.

The ground closed and became level again.

As if nothing had happened.

A death‑like silence enveloped the battlefield.

A few seconds later.

On the side of the Meat Mountain of Bone City, a section of wall began to writhe and deform violently.

Countless pallid bones and flesh fibers intertwined and reassembled wildly, and finally a grotesque‑shaped, muzzle still dripping viscous liquid… a living cannon, literally grew out.

Its shape still vaguely resembled the barrel of a 99‑type main battle tank, but the barrel was covered with pulsating veins and pallid bone armor.

It slowly rotated its muzzle, locking onto another tank not far away.

"Fire! Fire quickly!"

The tank commander let out a terrified roar.

However.

Too late.

The muzzle of the living cannon ignited a blinding red light.

The next second.

A shell wrapped in dark‑red flesh and blood, whistling sharply, burst forth.

Its speed was even faster than the original shell.

"Boom—!"

The violent explosion instantly flipped the tank, tearing it into a heap of burning scrap metal.

At that moment, everyone finally understood.

Firepower no longer meant anything against this monster.

It could not only not kill it, but would become nourishment for its evolution.

It can devour human weapons and then turn those weapons into part of its own body.

"What an unreasonable creature..."

Liang Wen shouldered the heavy cannon; his face, usually bearing a teenage‑ish grin, became unusually solemn for the first time.

He discarded the heavy cannon; it was adequate against stray troops, but posed no threat to the Bone City itself.

His hands wore the Fingerless Gloves etched with strange patterns.

He slowly raised his hands and clasped them at his chest.

"Forbidden Technique Release—"

"Abyss, descend!"

He activated the Hand Ring he had worn since the mission began.

—This is the Federation's newest, highly advanced Weird counter‑weapon; the Investigation Bureau possesses only two units.

It can launch an invisible stance that instantly eradicates Weird derivatives of single‑entity strength below C‑level within a certain radius.

It can be called a weapon against hordes.

As Liang Wen's black windcoat moved without wind.

An indescribable, dimension‑crossing aura of terror spread from his body.

Now the only solution.

Is for him to go in alone, piercing the Core of Bone City.

Find Ouyang Feng, who is no longer human, and cut all this off with his own hands.

Soon.

Liang Wen moved.

His whole form turned into a black afterimage, charging straight toward the massive Meat Mountain.

Bone Worms along the way, before they could approach, were ground into powder by the invisible force field he emitted.

However.

Bone City seemed to sense his intent as well.

The entire Meat Mountain began to shake violently.

Countless thick, white‑bone tentacles burst from the walls like wildly dancing giant serpents, raining down on Liang Wen.

On the ground, more Bone Worms erupted, forming white high walls that stacked layer upon layer before him.

Liang Wen's speed was great.

He was like a sharp knife, continuously cutting through the enemy formation.

But the number of enemies was simply too great.

Even with the invisible force field's aid.

Each step forward, the Hand Ring gave him massive resistance.

He fell into an ocean.

He was dragged by endless enemies, the Core of the Meat Mountain always remaining far away.

A drop in the bucket.

Just as Liang Wen was entangled and the battle grew stalemated.

"Roar—!!!!!!!"

A deafening roar erupted from deep within Bone City.

That wasn't just a sound.

It was a visible, materialized destructive shockwave forming a ring!

The shockwave expanded outward in a ring shape.

Wherever it passed, within a one-kilometer radius, all building glass instantly shattered, turning into millions of sharp fragments that fell like a rainstorm.

And those Federation soldiers still struggling to hold the front line.

Their eardrums were instantly shattered upon contact with the sound wave.

Blood spurted from their ears, nostrils, and the corners of their eyes.

Countless soldiers screamed, dropped their weapons, painfully clutched their heads, and rolled on the ground.

Their world instantly lost all sound.

Only an endless, piercing tinnitus remained.

Just a single strike.

All Federation forces on the front line instantly lost their combat capability.

"What......!"

Liang Wen's ears also bled; he suffered severe injuries, half-kneeling on the ground. The already unfavorable situation took a turn for the worse.