262: Chapter 262 There's no time to worry about that now!

At the edge of Jiangcheng, an abandoned commercial street.

The wild wind whipped up colorful snowflakes, which acted like countless tiny, sharp blades, madly carving into this silent ruin.

"Huff... huff..."

Heavy breathing sounded exceptionally clear amidst the wind and snow.

A Special Operations Team dressed in dark red tactical camouflage was running for their lives through the snow.

They were the military's most elite female Special Operations Team—the "Fire Phoenix".

But at this moment, this team, which had once made countless survivors tremble in fear, was as disheveled as a pack of stray dogs.

"Captain! Xiaoli didn't make it!"

A short-haired female soldier shouted with a crying tone. Her left arm was broken; although she had used emergency spray on the wound, black blood was still seeping out.

Qin Ziyan, who was running at the very front, turned her head abruptly.

Through her cracked tactical goggles, she saw a scene that made her eyes split with rage.

In the snowy mist dozens of meters away, a monster that looked like it had been assembled at random was grabbing the soldier named Xiaoli.

It was a flying species that fused features of a bat and a human.

It had no skin, its dark red muscles were exposed, and it was covered in the slime of some unknown creature.

The most disgusting part was its head.

It couldn't even be called a head; it looked like a lump of meat smashed by a blender that had been forcibly squeezed together, covered in dense compound eyes.

"What is this thing... Did Nüwa just flick mud at its face when she was molding humans?"

This thought flashed incongruously through Qin Ziyan's mind, but it was immediately drowned out by endless rage.

"Da, da, da, da, da!!!"

The modified assault rifle in her hands spat out tongues of fire madly.

Special armor-piercing explosive rounds hit the monster, blooming into flowers of blood.

However.

It was useless.

Completely useless!

Bullets capable of piercing light armored vehicles were like a scraping therapy session for this monster.

They didn't even slow its movements by a fraction.

"Crack!"

The monster's giant mouth, which occupied half its face, snapped shut.

Xiaoli didn't even have time to scream before she was bitten in half.

Fresh blood sprayed onto the white snow, a piercingly bright red.

"Damn it! Damn it!!!"

Qin Ziyan's eyes were bloodshot, and the barrel of her gun had turned red from continuous firing.

"Captain! Run! Two more have flown over!"

The deputy captain grabbed Qin Ziyan, who was trying to rush back to fight to the death.

"Don't let Xiaoli die in vain! We need to bring the intel back!"

Qin Ziyan bit her lip until it bled, forcibly holding back the tears in her eyes, and turned to continue running wildly.

It wasn't that she was afraid of death.

It was that this wasn't a battle at all.

It was a one-sided massacre!

Ever since that roar that shattered the glass rang out, these monsters known as "Titan kin" had suddenly appeared.

They were extremely fast, could fly, and possessed terrifying self-healing abilities.

Most importantly, they seemed to be able to sense each other.

Once entangled with one, within three minutes, a whole group would surround you.

They were practically the originators of the "call for backup" tactic!

"Captain, where are we going?"

The three remaining female members followed closely behind Qin Ziyan, despair written on every one of their faces.

Their ammunition was about to run out.

Their Superpower had also been exhausted.

And the sound of breaking air behind them was getting closer and closer.

The feeling of being chased by Death himself was pushing their mental defenses to the brink of collapse.

While running, Qin Ziyan quickly scanned the radar on her tactical watch.

It was all red dots!

Dense red dots were closing in from all directions.

The road back to the base had been completely blocked.

"Run east!"

Qin Ziyan suddenly shouted.

"East? But that way is..." The deputy captain paused for a moment.

The east was that man's territory!

That Lin Yuan, who was listed as an "SSS-level extremely dangerous person" in the military's top-secret files!

"There was no other choice!"

Qin Ziyan wiped the ice shards off her face, a hint of determination flashing in her eyes.

"Even if I die at the hands of that bastard, it's better than becoming dung for these monsters!"

And.

Just a moment ago, her keen Perception Ability had detected it.

An extremely terrifying energy fluctuation had come from the east.

Although that fluctuation had vanished in a flash, the world-destroying aura had made her soul tremble.

Her intuition told her that place might be their only path to survival.

Even if this was a dirty trick of diverting the disaster.

"Listen to the Captain! Charge!"

The remaining members did not hesitate.

Following Qin Ziyan, they changed direction and ran wildly toward the villa area in the east.

"Roar——!!!"

The monsters behind seemed to have sensed the prey's intention and let out angry roars.

The sound was sharp and piercing, carrying a mental penetration effect.

One member running at the back faltered, her movements slowing by half a beat.

That half-beat pause decided life and death.

A black shadow swooped down from the sky.

It was a larger Titan kin, and its claws actually shimmered with a metallic luster.

"Puchi!"

The sharp claws instantly pierced through that member's chest, lifting her into mid-air like a rag doll.

"A-Mei!!!"

Qin Ziyan looked back and saw exactly this scene.

Her heart was bleeding.

These were the sisters who had lived and died with her for three years!

This wasn't some survival in the Apocalypse; this was hell mode with a max-level boss chasing a newbie village!

It wasn't that she didn't want to fight; it was that she really couldn't!

This deep sense of powerlessness made her doubt her own strength for the first time.

An A-rank strength enhancer?

In this version, it was practically a joke!

"Don't look back! Run!"

Qin Ziyan roared, tears finally unable to be held back, streaming from her eyes.

Ten minutes later.

When Qin Ziyan rushed out of the ruins with the last severely injured deputy captain, her stamina had been exhausted to the limit.

Her lungs felt like they were burning, and every breath carried the smell of blood.

But the scene before her made her heart, which had already turned to ice, jump suddenly.

Visible hundreds of meters ahead.

A towering ice wall stood across the earth, cutting off the wind and snow like a natural chasm.

The ice wall was twenty meters high, crystal clear, and emitted a faint blue light in the night.

And on the ice wall, a few human figures could be vaguely seen.

"We're here... finally here..."

Qin Ziyan felt her legs trembling.

But before she could heave a sigh of relief.

A dense sound of breaking air suddenly came from above her head.

She stiffened and looked up.

Dozens of Titan kin had already caught up.

They circled in the air like a flock of vultures waiting to feed.

The giant Titan kin leading them even looked at the two "ants" below with a playful gaze.

As if to say: Run, why aren't you running anymore?

"It's over..."

The deputy captain collapsed on the ground, the gun in her hand having long since run out of bullets.

In front was a dozens-of-meters-high sheer ice wall.

Behind were dozens of unkillable monsters.

This was a true dead end.

"Is this our destination?"

Qin Ziyan leaned against the cold stone, smiling bitterly.

She closed her eyes, waiting for death to arrive.

This short life flashed through her mind like a revolving lantern.

If she hadn't joined the army, perhaps she would still be falling in love at university right now?

If the Apocalypse hadn't come, perhaps she would already be a sophisticated urban white-collar worker?

Unfortunately, there were no ifs.

"Roar!!!"

The monster group gave the signal to attack, swooping down in unison.

The fishy, foul wind pressure was already upon them.

Just at this moment.

A cold, indifferent female voice, seemingly devoid of any emotional color, suddenly came from the high ice wall.

"Did you get approval to lead monsters to my doorstep?"

The voice was not loud, but it was terrifyingly clear in the cold wind.

Immediately after.

A hair-raising energy fluctuation suddenly erupted!

Qin Ziyan opened her eyes abruptly.

On the ice wall, an extremely brilliant purple light was gathering.

It was a heavy cannon with an extremely sci-fi design.

At the muzzle, countless purple arcs of electricity were dancing wildly, and the surrounding space seemed to be twisted.

The next second.

"Boom——!!!"

There was no deafening explosion.

Only a dull hum, as if the air had been instantly drained.

A thick purple beam of light with a diameter of over three meters, like a spear of judgment thrown by God, instantly pierced through the group of monsters swooping down.

This shot was extremely fast.

So fast that even the retina couldn't capture its trajectory.

Wherever the light beam passed, those Titan kin that had made Qin Ziyan and the others despair, the ones that even armor-piercing bullets couldn't penetrate, instantly dissolved like snow under the scorching sun.

They didn't even have time to scream.

Their bodies directly decomposed into the smallest particles and dissipated in the air.

"Zzzzz..."

After the light beam swept past, a scorched black gully over a thousand meters long and bottomless was left on the ground.

The soil at the edge of the gully had been vitrified by the high temperature, emitting wisps of blue smoke.