224: Chapter 224: Breaking Through the Poisonous Fog Barrier

The fire from the incendiary bombs still rolled before his eyes, and the heat wave slapped against his mask, making a faint crackling sound. Shen Xiaochuan stepped onto the platform behind the stone door, his foot slipped, and he almost fell to his knees. He reached out to brace himself on the ground, his palm touching something wet, cold, and sticky, like moss, but with a metallic texture.

"Don't stop!" he roared, his voice muffled by the mask, but loud enough for those behind him to hear.

The last team member flipped over the threshold and rolled into the platform area. Almost the instant he landed, the passage behind him, torn open by flames, began to collapse. green mist surged from all directions, filling the void rapidly as if alive, completely swallowing their path in the blink of an eye.

Shen Xiaochuan panted, leaning against the remnants of the stone door. His right arm was burning with pain; although the anti-poison gel suppressed the toxins, his muscles were tense. He wiped his face; there were obvious cracks on the edge of his mask, and his skin was bruised and gray.

"Check your equipment," he said in a low voice. "How much fuel is left?"

A rustling sound came from the team. Someone rummaged through their backpack, someone else twisted the flamethrower valve to test the pressure. A team member held up a can: "Two-tenths of the main fuel left, and one and a half spare cans."

"And the serum?"

"One dose left for the two seriously injured, the lightly injured have used theirs up."

Shen Xiaochuan nodded. He knew this was already their limit. Five people, three flamethrowers, two concussion grenades, and a short blade in his hand. They weren't here to fight a war; they were here to scout a path—but now, the path had reached its end.

He looked up and forward.

After the firelight extinguished, visibility plunged back into darkness. Ahead was an open area, estimated to be seven to eight hundred meters in diameter. The ground was covered with black crystallized moss, making a faint cracking sound when stepped on. In the center stood several broken giant pillars, their surfaces carved with severely corroded patterns, consistent in style with the symbols on the broken wall earlier. Further away, the outline of a half-buried building, shaped like an altar, could vaguely be seen.

But these were not the most frightening things.

What truly made one's scalp tingle were those things.

They lay densely on the open ground, motionless, like piles of static shadows. All of them were over three meters tall, covered in scales, with metallic luster at their joints. Some had multiple pairs of segmented limbs, others dragged tail hooks behind them, and their eyes were all crimson, now slowly lighting up.

"My god..." a team member murmured, "How many are there?"

"Shut up," Shen Xiaochuan whispered. "Don't make a sound."

No sooner had he spoken than one of the alien beasts in the front row suddenly raised its head, its nostrils flaring, seemingly sniffing the air. Immediately after, the second, the third... more and more heads lifted. Low guttural sounds came from all directions, initially a few sporadic ones, quickly merging into a resonant roar.

The ground began to tremble.

"Stick to the wall!" Shen Xiaochuan abruptly pushed the person next to him. "Form up! flamethrowers, ignite!"

The five quickly gathered, forming a semicircle with their backs against the remnants of the stone door. Three flamethrowers ignited simultaneously, orange-red flames arcing to form a wall of fire in front of the team. The alien beast horde paused, a dozen in the front row tentatively moving forward, only to be forced back by the flames.

"They're afraid of fire," someone sighed in relief.

"Don't relax," Shen Xiaochuan stared into the distance. "This is just the beginning."

Sure enough, after only a few seconds, the alien beasts no longer moved individually. They began to move in an orderly fashion, individuals on the left and right closing in towards the center, gradually forming a fan-shaped encirclement. Their steps were uniform, making regular clicking sounds on the black moss, like some kind of ritualistic oppression.

Shen Xiaochuan scanned the entire area. These guys weren't just blindly charging. They understood flanking maneuvers, knew to maintain attack distance, and could even avoid certain slightly darker areas on the ground—which might be traps.

"Unified command?" This thought flashed through his mind.

Just then, his gaze fell on a high point in the clearing. It was a small slope made of rubble, on top of which lay a massive skeleton. More precisely, it was like the exuviae of some creature, with an intact shell and dried sinews still attached at the joints. Its skull faced the platform, its hollow eye sockets directly looking at their position.

Shen Xiaochuan's heart tightened.

That place was definitely the command post.

"Captain..." a team member's voice trembled, "Can we still go back? Red of the East's shield won't last much longer, and those monsters outside... must be coming this way too."

Shen Xiaochuan didn't turn to look at him. He knew this question would come sooner or later. Retreat? Behind them was poison mist, a collapsed passage, and the remnants of the suicide squad with whom they had long lost contact. Advance? Ahead were hundreds of perfect grade alien beasts, clearly under control.

He removed a fragment of his mask, revealing his blood-stained face. His breathing became heavy, his lungs felt like they had been abraded with sandpaper. But he had to speak.

"Listen up," he said, his voice not loud, yet it cut through the noise of the burning flames. "One step back is death. Charging forward gives us a slim chance of survival. Do you trust me?"

No one answered.

He asked again: "Do you trust me?"

"Yes!" one person shouted.

"Trust Brother Hu and gain eternal life!" another person subconsciously blurted out, then was stunned by his own words.

Shen Xiaochuan twitched his mouth: "I'm not Brother Hu. But I can lead you to survive better than him."

He raised his right hand, palm facing up. His faith points were still increasing—three thousand nine hundred and seven, three thousand nine hundred and eight... three points per second, steadily growing. He hadn't touched anything in the mall, not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't. Anything he exchanged now wouldn't have time to be used.

But he knew that if he could just hold on a little longer, even thirty seconds, he might gather enough to meet the exchange threshold for a critical item.

"Prepare for battle," he said. "Hold this opening; no one is allowed to retreat."

Flames spewed forth again, more fiercely than before. Three lightly injured team members gritted their teeth and stood at the front, adjusting their flamethrowers to a lower angle to prevent alien beasts from attacking close to the ground. The two seriously injured leaned at the back, clutching concussion grenades, ready to throw them at any moment.

The oppressive rhythm of the alien beast horde quickened.

The front-row individuals began to crouch, their hind leg muscles tensed, clearly preparing for a charge. More crimson eyes lit up, encircling the entire open area, forming a pincer movement. The ground tremors grew stronger, and the black moss continuously cracked, revealing the dark green soil beneath.

"They're going to charge," someone whispered.

Shen Xiaochuan gripped his short blade. The blade was very short, modified from an engineering toolkit; its only advantage was its speed.

"Wait until they're within ten meters before acting," he said. "Don't waste fuel on the first wave; let it pass. The second wave is the killing blow."

"What if there's more than two waves?"

"Then we fight until the last drop of oil."

Before his words finished, a sharp shriek cut through the air.

Five alien beasts in the front row suddenly leaped up, limbs spread, pouncing like predatory raptors. Their speed was incredibly fast, almost skimming the edge of the fire line, attempting to cut in from the side.

"Fire!" Shen Xiaochuan yelled.

Three streams of flame swept across, instantly igniting two, who screamed and rolled on the ground. The third had a forelimb burned off, fell to the ground, and struggled to get back up. The remaining two successfully crossed the fire line, immediately turned after landing, and pounced on the injured at the back.

"Team Ryan!" Shen Xiaochuan roared. "Stop the one on the left!"

He himself had already charged out.

His left hand was nimble, directly stuffing a concussion grenade into the flamethrower nozzle, igniting it for propulsion. The explosive recoil sent him sliding several meters, perfectly blocking the alien beast's path. He swung his short blade, hacking it into the creature's neck joint, and seizing the moment of its halted movement, he flipped onto its back, his hands tightly gripping its head.

The alien beast thrashed wildly, slamming into the stone wall. Shen Xiaochuan gritted his teeth and held on, feeling like his ribs were about to break. He freed one hand and fiercely plunged the short blade into its eye.

Black blood splattered.

The alien beast let out a wail and crashed to the ground.

On the other side, a team member killed the second one with an incendiary bomb. The battlefield temporarily regained calm.

But everyone knew in their hearts that this was just the beginning.

The alien beast horde retreated twenty meters, regrouping. This time, they did not rush to attack, but collectively emitted low-frequency roars, their voices layering into a strange resonance that made people's eardrums ache.

Shen Xiaochuan panted as he returned to the defensive line. His face was covered in a muddy mixture of sweat and blood. He glanced at his teammates; three were still standing, while the two seriously injured leaned against the wall, their faces purple, clearly suffering from worsened poisoning.

"Can you still hold on?" he asked.

"We won't die," one replied, "as long as the fire doesn't go out."

"The fire won't go out," Shen Xiaochuan said. "I'll keep it burning."

Shen Xiaochuan didn't answer, looking up at the huge skeleton on the high slope. The wind brought a decaying scent, and the copper gear in his pocket grew hotter.

He knew the real decisive battle hadn't started yet.

The alien beast horde gathered again.

This time, they didn't scatter. Hundreds of crimson eyes locked onto them simultaneously, low growls converging into a tide, the ground tremors intensifying, and large patches of black moss cracking.

Shen Xiaochuan raised his hand, wiping the bloodstains from his face.

"Get ready," he said. "They're coming."