Chapter 749.1: KABOOMZ

Broken Blade Peak. A squad of Enterprise soldiers was taking a brief rest. Looking at the mud stained crimson by blood and strewn with corpses, Tang Feng sat on the edge of a trench, breathing heavily. His right hand never left his rifle, his index finger resting against the safety. Strictly speaking, this was the first real battlefield he had ever experienced. At first, he was nervous, even a little panicked. Later, he had simply gone numb. By then, even sitting beside a pile of corpses stirred no emotion within him. The place was nothing like the virtual reality training simulators. The Mutant Humans and Goblins were nothing like the rigid enemies simulated by software. They were as cunning as monkeys in a zoo, yet even more bloodthirsty and vicious than hyenas that had gone hungry for three days. One small mistake could cost them their lives. In fact, if it weren't for the bionic prosthetics and combat implants embedded within his body, he would have died countless times already. Damn the fucking Highest Council... So this is what the outside world has really become. And just how the hell have those wastelanders managed to survive outside Ideal City all this time? Tang Feng felt the inside of his helmet was soaked with sweat, sticky and suffocating. Even so, he didn't dare take it off. Only then did he realize just how well their commanding officers had protected them. The next second, movement erupted from the southern foot of the mountain. Hearing the order to assemble, he immediately grabbed his rifle and hurried over with the rest of his squad. "Shit! What the hell are those?" one soldier muttered, panic flashing across his face as grotesque monsters crawled out of the thick fog. The most common were creatures that moved on all fours with four arms, resembling a grotesque cross between humans and spiders. Others retained humanoid forms, shambling forward like zombies straight out of a Skeleton Studios horror game. Their squad leader signaled with his hand and everyone raised their rifles and aimed at the approaching monsters. Just then, a shout came from the fog. "Don't shoot! They're friendlies!" As the words rang out, a group of soldiers clad in exoskeleton emerged from the mist behind the monsters. Their uniform Type 5 exoskeletons and LD-47 rifles were instantly recognizable to these young men, most of whom had enlisted after playing a couple rounds of battle royale games on a whim. That was the Death Corps! The soldiers lowered their weapons. However, as the monsters emerged from the fog, uncertainty remained evident on everyone's faces. After giving the creatures another careful look, Tang Feng turned toward the man leading them and asked suspiciously, "... They’re friendlies?" Sideline Slacking nodded. "We've assimilated the Hive on Blood Peak. These are all Little Feather's sub-entities. We're planning to use them to disperse the Kingdom of Heaven here. Oh, that’s the spore cloud." Not only Tang Feng, but every soldier nearby wore expressions of complete astonishment. Someone couldn’t help but ask, "Something like that is actually possible?" Sideline Slacking shrugged. "We've got to try." The Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee had been established precisely to explore ways of dealing with Mutant Slime Mold. At that moment, the squad leader who had been requesting instructions from higher command finally received his reply. Walking over to Sideline Slacking, he said solemnly, "We'll escort you through this position as quickly as possible. Follow me!" He then gestured to his teammates behind him and yelled, "Let them through!" Sideline Slacking nodded toward the players behind him. Then, accompanied by several intelligence type players from the Death Corps, he followed the Enterprise soldiers down the narrow mountain path cutting through Broken Blade Peak. At the same time, countless cheerful "Yiwus!" echoed continuously among the sub-entities blanketing the mountains. Using intelligence type players carrying neural interface devices, biological prosthetics, and communication equipment as node organisms, the swarm transmitted unified commands and information throughout its ranks. At that moment, the young Enterprise soldiers standing on Broken Blade Peak stared in stunned silence at the endless sea of sub-entities. 1,000... No, there were probably 10,000 of them! What shocked them wasn't merely their numbers. It was the fact that the Hive had hatched such an army in so little time. One soldier couldn't help gulping nervously, "Is this the Tide?" Another answered hoarsely, "Probably... Actually, it's probably even worse." Although none of them had ever witnessed the Tide, they'd heard that Skeleton Studios' newest game, Zombie Crisis, had been inspired by it. He had played the demo. Its brutal difficulty and suffocating sense of terror had sent his adrenaline through the roof, leaving the soft sandbox games on Endpoint Cloud looking utterly tame by comparison. "My God, they've been fighting this thing for 200 years! Those New Alliance guys are monsters!" Even knowing that a single artillery shell could wipe out huge numbers of them, they still couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. Especially when they thought about Clearspring City's terrain. The New Alliance had fought these monsters amid ruined city blocks where artillery support was difficult to employ. The realization left them even more awestruck. At the same time, on the summit of Black Cloud Peak, the Wislander soldiers who had just repelled a surprise assault by Mutant Humans and Goblins likewise watched the endless procession of sub-entities winding along the mountain road. Every face was filled with astonishment. Unlike the sheltered citizens of Ideal City, they were no strangers to Mutant Slime Mold. On the wasteland, Mutant Slime Mold ranked alongside mutated creatures, marauders, and Mutant Humans as one of the Four Great Plagues. Although the Army controlled vast territories, they had never found an effective solution for the Hives within them. Yet the New Alliance, whose territory amounted to little more than a single province had not only conquered one, they actually domesticated it! It was unbelievable. "The gray fog is weakening..." Watching the massive swarm, the adjutant standing beside General Modlin couldn't hide the excitement on his face. General Modlin remained silent. Frowning slightly, he watched the scene carefully before speaking. "It isn't weakening. Look closely. There's a distinct boundary separating one layer of fog from the other." The New Alliance had previously shared relevant research during the Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee conference. While tracing the origins of Na Fruit, they had discovered that the primitive type B strain originating from Baiyue Province exhibited a strong inhibitory effect against the Torch Church’s modified type J strain. The mechanism remained unknown. Research into the Hives of Baiyue Province had only recently begun and many theories were still under investigation. Still, not understanding the mechanism didn't stop them from applying the results. If his guess was correct, those sub-entities had either been inoculated with the type B strain, or had genes from the type B strain inserted directly into their organs. He was merely a military officer, not a biologist. That was the best conclusion he could draw. What truly surprised him wasn't the New Alliance's biotechnology. It was the fact that they had actually "eaten" the Hive on Blood Peak. Using New Alliance terminology, it had been assimilated. That was probably the closest anyone outside the New Alliance had ever come to witnessing one of their greatest secrets. Unfortunately, they had still been too far away to actually observe the assimilation process itself. A trace of regret crossed General Modlin's face. Moments later, realization dawned in his eyes. "... Now I finally understand why the Academy, who normally hides behind everyone else, insisted so forcefully on leading the assault against Blood Peak this time." Among all the peaks of Ten Peaks Mountain, Blood Peak was unquestionably the most difficult objective to take down. The Academy had never willingly accepted thankless tasks. The adjutant looked at him in surprise. "You mean they knew there was a Hive there from the very beginning?" "The Academy was investigating the Torch Church before the New Alliance ever was. This Hive has existed for 200 years. It's entirely possible they obtained information about it back during the Post-War Reconstruction Committee." After a pause, General Modlin calmly added, "Of course, that's only my speculation." ... A gray-green torrent flowed along the winding mountain roads through the fog-covered night toward Guardian Manor Military Base. Wherever it passed, the gray-green mist churned violently as though it was boiling. The gray-green tendrils protruding from the soil gradually withered and collapsed. The Kingdom of Heaven was being suppressed and visibly collapsing before everyone's eyes. The Ratfolk corrupted by the Na Fruit merely stared blankly as the ominous mist enveloped them, making no attempt to move. Meanwhile, the corpses crawling out of the earth revealed traces of fear within their empty eye sockets. These resurrected dead possessed no true consciousness. They were nothing more than puppets manipulated by the type J strain. Precisely because of that, the fear they displayed was merely a projection of the terror shared by the Na Fruit strain controlling them. "Hiss..." The undead let out hoarse cries, seemingly attempting to intimidate the approaching swarm. The Creepers and Crunchers paid them no attention whatsoever.