110: Chapter 110 Gobi Military Base

The engine of the mengshi off-road vehicle roared across the deathly silent Gobi Desert, like a wild beast, kicking up a long trail of dust.

The headlights sliced through the thick darkness, only illuminating thirty meters ahead—any further, and the night was as impenetrable as ink. In the passenger seat, the faint blue light patterns on Xiao Zhi's surface flowed steadily, monitoring the road conditions.

He had been driving for a full two and a half hours.

The Gobi Desert's night wind seeped through the cracks in the car window, carrying sand and an indescribable stench of decay.

Finally, light appeared on the horizon ahead. It was the piercing white glare of searchlights. Over a dozen beams of light crisscrossed the night sky, illuminating an area as bright as day. As the distance closed, the silhouette of that area gradually became clear.

A wire mesh fence, five meters high, topped with tangled barbed wire.

Watchtowers stood every fifty meters, with figures moving atop them, their gun barrels reflecting cold light under the searchlights.

A defensive line composed of armored vehicles and tanks, their muzzles all pointed outward.

There were also tents, dozens of military tents neatly arranged, with several prefabricated temporary buildings at the center. The communication antennas on the roofs were as dense as a forest.

A fully armed military base was forced into the center of this desolate Gobi Desert.

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes. The base's level of security exceeded his expectations—this wasn't a simple lockdown; this was a war-level deployment.

Five hundred meters from the first checkpoint, the headlights were spotted by the sentries.

"Stop!"

Two sentries rushed out from behind a sandbag bunker. One held a stop sign, while the other already had his hand on the holster at his waist. They wore full protective suits and gas masks, with only their eyes visible—eyes as sharp as knives.

Chen Fan slowly rolled down the window, and the night wind rushed in.

"Military restricted zone, please show your identification immediately!" The sentry's voice came through the gas mask, somewhat muffled but in an unquestionable tone.

Chen Fan handed over the temporary pass Lei Zhen had given him. The paper document was a bit worn, but the military stamp on it was clearly visible under the headlights.

The sentry took the ID and carefully inspected it with a flashlight. The beam swept back and forth across the document several times before moving to Chen Fan's face, lingering for three seconds. Chen Fan met his gaze calmly, a faint golden light flashing deep within his pupils for a fleeting moment.

"Mr. Chen Fan?" The sentry confirmed the photo on the ID.

"It's me. I'm looking for Captain Lei Zhen."

The sentry nodded and handed back the ID, his attitude softening slightly, though his hand remained on his holster. "Captain Lei is in the command center. Please follow the yellow marker line to the end."

"Understood."

The off-road vehicle slowly drove into the base.

As soon as he passed the checkpoint, Chen Fan felt the difference.

The smell of blood in the air was thick and inescapable, mixed with the pungent odor of disinfectant and the acidic scent of some chemical reagent. Dark red stains were everywhere on the ground; some had dried and turned black, while others were still fresh. Soldiers were washing them away with high-pressure water hoses, the stream carrying away a layer of bloody foam.

Several ambulances were parked outside the medical tents, their red and blue emergency lights flashing silently. Medical staff hurried in and out with stretchers. The people on the stretchers were completely covered in chemical protection cloth, but occasionally, twitching limbs were exposed—limbs that appeared an unnatural dark green, with festering skin and even bone showing in some places.

The command center was in the center of the base, a prefabricated building covering two hundred square meters. Chen Fan parked the car, and just as he pushed the door open to get out, the command center door opened.

Lei Zhen strode out.

Chen Fan's brow furrowed slightly.

He hadn't seen him for only a few days, but the change in Lei Zhen was startling. He had lost a significant amount of weight; his once-sturdy frame now looked somewhat frail. His eyes were sunken, his cheekbones protruded, and the contours of his skull were visible on his cheeks. But those eyes—those eyes were even sharper, glinting with a cold, hard light under the base's lamps.

He wore desert camouflage combat fatigues, and the colonel's rank on his shoulder straps was still prominent.

"Chen Fan." Lei Zhen extended his hand.

The two men shook hands firmly. Lei Zhen's hand was very cold, his palm calloused, and his grip remained surprisingly strong.

"Is the matter settled?" Lei Zhen asked, his voice somewhat raspy.

"Ran into some trouble, but it's handled," Chen Fan said briefly. "How are things on your end?"

Lei Zhen didn't answer immediately but instead made a "please" gesture to the side. "Let's talk inside."

The interior of the command center was brightly lit, but the atmosphere was so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

On the front wall was a massive display screen divided into over a dozen monitoring feeds. Most showed real-time conditions around the base—sand, rocks, wire fences—with the dark silhouettes of Aberrations occasionally flashing across the lens.

In the center was a sand table that took up most of the room. The sand table was extremely detailed, accurately recreating the terrain within a ten-kilometer radius of the laboratory. Yardang mounds, dried riverbeds, meteorite craters, and even the position of every large rock were clearly marked.

But the most eye-catching feature was the small flags stuck into the sand table.

Red flags were packed closely together, almost forming a solid block, completely surrounding the Long Corporation's experimental base area. Blue flags were much sparser, mainly concentrated near the base and along several key routes.

"Red indicates confirmed Aberration activity zones." Lei Zhen walked to the sand table, his finger tracing across a red area with somewhat stiff movements. "When we completed the initial blockade three days ago, the red zone was only a third of what it is now."

He paused, his voice dropping lower. "In just seventy-two hours, their range of activity has doubled. At this rate, our defensive line will be completely breached in a week at most."

Chen Fan didn't speak, merely staring at the sand table.

"The most urgent task now is to deal with Long Zaifei." Lei Zhen turned to look at Chen Fan, his eyes bloodshot. "Otherwise, more and more animals will become infected. Once they form a large enough group, this entire Gobi Desert..."

He didn't finish, but the meaning was clear.

"Do you have his location yet?" Chen Fan asked.

Lei Zhen fell silent.

A few seconds later, he walked to the console and operated it. A video popped up on the large screen—the footage shook violently, accompanied by gunfire, explosions, and heart-wrenching screams. It was a first-person perspective recorded by a helmet camera.

In the video, a twelve-man reconnaissance squad was advancing through a field of ruins. They wore full protective suits and were equipped with heavy weapons. Their tactical movements were crisp and efficient, clearly elites.

Suddenly, the footage shook violently.

A dark shadow rushed out from the depths of the ruins, moving so fast it was only a blur. The creature's size was estimated to be over two meters, its entire body covered in dark red chitinous armor, with hideous bone spurs growing from its joints. Its face was no longer recognizable as human.

"Fire!" someone roared.

Gunfire erupted. Bullets hit the monster, sparking, but they only left shallow white marks on the armor. The monster didn't dodge or flinch, charging straight ahead. With a swipe of its claws—

The camera spun wildly. Chen Fan saw a headless corpse fall to the ground, dark green blood spraying from the neck. Then the view shifted, showing the monster tearing into a soldier, his body armor being ripped apart like paper.

The screams stopped abruptly.

The video cut off there, freezing on the moment the monster lifted its head—its eyes were blood-red, its pupils narrowed into vertical slits, devoid of reason, filled only with murderous frenzy.

"Twelve men went in, only five came back." Lei Zhen turned off the video, his voice as dry as sandpaper. "The survivors said Long Zaifei has completely mutated. His strength, speed, and defense are beyond human limits. They tried using a rocket launcher and hit him, but the monster only stumbled, and the wound healed within seconds."

He took a deep breath. "Afterward, we organized three large-scale searches, using drones, thermal imaging, and even military dogs. But Long Zaifei has seemingly evaporated, vanishing without a trace. We suspect he's gone underground."

Chen Fan stared at the now-black screen, replaying the footage in his mind.

"Tomorrow, let's go to the Long Corporation's laboratory together," Chen Fan said slowly. "We'll look for clues nearby. We're bound to find something."

Lei Zhen stared at him for a few seconds before finally nodding. "Alright. We'll head out first thing tomorrow morning. Get some rest today and gather your strength."

He turned and said a few words to a staff officer, then said to Chen Fan, "Accommodations have been arranged. Follow me."

The two walked out of the command center. The night wind blew, carrying the characteristic chill of the Gobi Desert.

Chen Fan was led to a single-person tent. The interior was simple: a cot, a locker, and a folding table. On the table were field rations and bottled water.

"The conditions are modest, so please make do," Lei Zhen said. "We leave at six tomorrow. I'll have the equipment and personnel ready. You..."

He paused, seemingly choosing his words carefully. "Chen Fan, I know you're not an ordinary person. But the laboratory... it's more dangerous than you think."

Chen Fan nodded. "Understood."

Lei Zhen left. Chen Fan was alone in the tent.

He didn't rest immediately but sat cross-legged on the cot and closed his eyes.

Energy Vision fully expanded.

Within a fifteen-hundred-meter radius, all energy fluctuations were visible.

Inside the base, the energy emitted by soldiers and equipment was like scattered stars—cluttered but full of life. Over by the medical tents, several faint energy sources were slowly fading—severely wounded soldiers who couldn't hold on.

Outside the base perimeter, beyond the wire fence, the energy sources of the Aberrations in the red zone were like bonfires burning in the dark.

Chen Fan opened his eyes, the faint golden light deep in his pupils lingering.

He picked up a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip. The water was lukewarm, with the characteristic salty bitterness of Gobi Desert groundwater.

Everything pointed to the same source.

Long Zaifei must die.

Otherwise, this Gobi Desert, and even further beyond, will turn into hell.