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Chapter 14: One-Sided Massacre
Living Element Zero?
Tang Fang blinked hard and looked closely. Sure enough, he saw the blade-like, narrow red block rapidly eroding the area above. At this rate, in just over ten minutes, it would reach the surface.
A living Element Zero! This was truly incomprehensible.
The others exchanged confused glances, their faces filled with bewilderment. In such a situation, not only had they never seen it before, they hadn’t even heard of it.
Suddenly, the ground trembled, shaking the rocks along the ceiling of massive hollow space high above and sending debris raining down.
"Boss, what should we do?" Harvey panicked, and even Naru stopped collecting data, turning her head to look at him.
Tang Fang furrowed his brow and waved his hand toward the two behind him, saying, “Let’s go.” This place was too strange. Not to mention the moving Element Zero, they were underground. The tremor alone could cost them their lives.
Byron paused briefly, then said, “The data is nearly complete. That should be sufficient to fulfill the military's requirements. Let's pull back for now.”
Hearing this, Naru and Harvey hurriedly saved their data, not bothering to care about the drilling equipment and operational robots, and followed Byron toward the entrance.
Housen and the others were confused, unsure of what was happening. Just as they were about to ask, they saw Tang Fang and Byron rushing over with tense expressions. Before they could speak, the ground suddenly trembled once again. With a deafening rumble, a crack tore through the rocky ground, causing the earth to sink. Several people lost their balance and fell.
Tang Fang and his team weren’t doing much better. Unlike the others, the ground beneath their feet began to rise slowly, shifting backward, causing the gap between the two areas to widen.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s an earthquake!”
“Run!”
Panic spread instantly. Two people behind Housen scrambled toward the entrance, rolling and crawling as fast as they could.
The crack between the two areas continued to widen, quickly spreading to both sides. Not far away, the once calm pool of water now roiled with waves. The heat escaping from the depths of the earth cleared the moisture within a few hundred meters, replaced by a sharp, sulfurous and nitrate-like smell.
“Take a detour!” Byron shouted, leading Naru and the others to the right.
Tang Fang hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should follow, but just then, a green fountain erupted from the widening gap, followed by a thunderous animal howl. He saw a flash of shadow, and under the lights, a giant centipede-like creature with armored segments appeared before them.
The three were startled, instinctively stepping back.
The creature was approximately 34 meters tall and nearly 20 meters wide, and that was only the portion visible above ground. The rest of its body, extending deep below, was unknown. Its long antennae hovered above a pair of yellow-brown eyes, with grayish sclera and a faint green glow in the center. The creature swayed as dozens of thick, segmented limbs moved, shaking off rocks scattered across its body. Its spiked mouthparts opened and closed, releasing bursts of dark green mist with every breath.
“What the hell is that thing?” Housen, standing opposite, managed to steady himself and saw the creature under the light. He couldn’t help but gasp in shock.
The two who had fled earlier turned around to look, their faces drained of color. They mustered every ounce of strength and began running as fast as they could.
“Shoot it, shoot it!” James shouted, his assault rifle already set to automatic, his finger firmly pressing the trigger.
Dakka dakka dakka…
The rapid gunfire created a storm of bullets, hitting the creature’s armored hide.
There was a series of metallic clinks, and sparks flew, but the high-density alloy bullets only left a few white streaks on its body.
Screech!
James’ actions sent the creature into a furious rage. One of its limbs, as thick as a millstone, shot downward, striking with brutal force. James barely had time to react before he was crushed into a lifeless heap of flesh.
Blood splattered, hitting Housen's face. He felt a tight rush of wind in his ears, followed by the cracking sound of James' bones breaking.
The creature’s limb slammed into the rock, creating a deep crater, and James’ blood sprayed outward in a gruesome, radial pattern, staining the ground a vivid red.
Housen’s heart sank. A wave of terror erupted within him, and he quickly grabbed a grenade from his belt, pulling the pin and tossing it forward while shouting, “Run! Run! We can’t fight this damn thing!”
His reminder was unnecessary. Several people had already scattered, running in all directions, trying to escape with their lives.
Boom!
The grenade exploded, as expected, leaving a large scorched mark, but it caused no significant harm to the creature.
Meanwhile, Tang Fang and his team took advantage of the creature’s fury to sneak out of its reach, heading toward the left to avoid the crack.
The first two who had fled were almost at the entrance. As long as they made it into the spiraling rocky cave, the creature, with its massive size, wouldn’t be able to catch them.
While running Tang Fang glanced back repeatedly. The creature was too enormous, its size several times that of a Zerg queen. Even though the system storage contained 22 zerglings and two queens, he didn’t have absolute confidence in defeating this centipede monster.
Fortunately, it couldn’t come out, remaining trapped between the crack. If he couldn’t fight it, at least he could try to escape.
But reality, like the unexpected twists in a popular TV show, took an alarming turn. Just as Tang Fang and his team were sprinting, the creature’s limbs thrust against the ground, and with one powerful push, it broke free from the crack.
The lower part of the creature was not like the centipedes of Earth, but rather shaped like a cone, connecting to a large, wriggling tubular structure that extended deep into the crack.
The creature paused, its massive form still on the ground for a moment. Then, its limbs shifted, raising slightly as a deep blue glow pulsed through the grooves in its limbs. In the darkness, a new light emerged, and countless tiny blue particles swirled around its limbs, resembling glowing wings.
It was flying! The damn thing was flying!
Tang Fang stared in horror as the creature soared higher, its numerous wings flickering in the air. He was frozen in disbelief. What in the hell was this creature?
Due to different escape routes, Byron and the other three with him were nowhere to be seen, and Housen and the others also stood frozen in place, looking as though they had seen a ghost.
Only the two who had fled first were close to the entrance, still running madly, completely unaware of the impending doom hovering overhead.
Pffft.
At last, Tang Fang understood where the green fountain had come from. It was the creature’s saliva.
The two poor souls barely had time to let out a scream before their bones and flesh melted into a pile of remains.
The acidic saliva hit the rocky ground with a sizzling sound, corroding a five-meter-wide pit.
Tang Fang instantly felt a chill run through him. This wasn’t just saliva; it was clearly the legendary “dragon’s breath.”
“Alverson, grenade launcher!” Without time to mourn their fallen teammates, Housen grabbed his rifle, switching the mini-controller to grenade mode, gritting his teeth as he pulled the trigger.
Boom.
A burst of gas shot out, the muffled sound reverberating through the barrel. The grenade arced smoothly through the air, landing precisely on the creature’s head.
Boom, boom.
Several more muffled explosions rang out.
Boom, boom…
The continuous explosions filled the air, and flames consumed much of the creature’s body.
With high explosives and shards laced with neurotoxin, one would think that even such a massive creature, comparable in size to a building, couldn’t possibly remain unharmed.
But reality slapped humanity’s technology in the face. Not only was the creature unharmed, but the attacks further triggered its primal rage.
The deep blue elemental dust scattered in the air, leaving a dazzling trail. The creature’s enormous body descended rapidly, like a mountain collapsing, falling toward Alverson’s head.
“Watch out!”
At the speed at which humans could run, there was no way to escape the creature’s massive body. Housen barely managed to shout a warning before Alverson became nothing more than a bloody mess under the creature’s crushing weight.
The creature’s seemingly clumsy body, adjusted by its glowing wings, was surprisingly nimble. Even someone as fearless as Housen felt his hands and feet freeze with terror.
Bullets, grenades, and even grenade launchers were ineffective. Housen was at a loss, glancing back to see Byron’s figures appearing in the distance.
But so what? Even if they arrived, what could they do against such a giant creature, one with human-like intelligence and the ability to block attacks? With the infantry weapons they carried, there was no way to break through the glowing blue shield around the creature, let alone pierce its steel-like body.
“Ah…”
A shrill scream echoed, and blood splattered once again as another teammate was flattened into a bloody pulp.
The creature didn’t stop. Its wings fluttered, carving a glowing arc through the endless darkness, and in the blink of an eye, it was beside one of the stunned men. With a swipe of its limb, he was sent flying like a missile, crashing into the rock wall near the entrance, his brain splattering across the surface.
This was a one-sided slaughter—this was the creature’s cruel game of torture.
When another teammate was reduced to a pile of pus under the dragon's breath, the enormous shadow loomed closer. This time, the centipede monster had switched its target to him.
Housen didn't know how to dodge. His gut told him that this time, he was as good as dead!
"Damn it! If I'm going to die, I’ll die fighting this monster!" He took the two high-explosive grenades off his belt, one in each hand, removed the safety pins, and pressed his thumb on the detonation buttons.
The unique, nauseating smell of the centipede monster’s breath hit him full force, making him gag. A fierce glint flashed in Housen's eyes as he pressed the detonation button with all his might.
But before he could let go, the centipede monster, hovering above his head, let out a sharp, ear-piercing screech. It then dove from the air, completely ignoring his presence, and twisted its body as it flew back toward the rear.
Housen blinked in confusion, completely taken aback.
He quickly noticed something strange—the monster's flight path seemed off, and the bluish dust from its limbs appeared to be fading.
"Huh, what’s going on?"
Of course, this fleeting thought was quickly replaced by two more eerie cries, and he nearly forgot that he was still holding two timed grenades in his hands.
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