64: Chapter 64 Shocking Change

When Wu Yong arrived at the scene, every muscle in his body was tense.

Eight point two kilometers in three minutes—he had pushed his speed to its absolute limit.

Along the way, countless images flashed through his mind: severed limbs everywhere, rivers of blood, and over three hundred students scattered through the forest like torn ragdolls.

He had already prepared himself mentally.

He had seen too many tragedies on the front lines: abdominal cavities hollowed out by ferocious beasts, faces half-eaten, bodies torn in two. He thought he would no longer be affected by anything.

But when he rushed into that forest clearing, he froze.

There were no severed limbs.

No bloodstains.

No screams.

Only gravel on the ground, a few broken trees, and—

A corpse.

It was the corpse of a Mimic, hacked into a dozen pieces and scattered across a ten-meter radius.

The head rolled to one side, its eyes still open, its dark red pupils already dilated. Twisted patterns remained on the severed limbs, and beneath the skin was a rot-like grayish-black.

A peak Rank 3 Mimic.

Dead.

Wu Yong's pupils constricted sharply.

He subconsciously looked up, searching for Lin Mo.

The young man stood ten meters away, leaning against a half-broken tree trunk. His combat suit was torn in several places, revealing deep, bone-deep scratches on his left shoulder.

Wu Yong opened his mouth to ask something, but found his tongue tied in knots.

He was at the peak of Rank 4, the ace of the Seventh Battalion, having seen countless experts and killed countless ferocious beasts.

But he had never seen a Rank 2 student kill a peak Rank 3 Mimic.

By himself.

How was it possible?

Wu Yong took a step forward, stepping on a severed limb with a slight crunch. He looked down; it was half an arm of the Mimic, the cut clean as if severed by a sharp blade in one stroke.

He looked up again at Lin Mo.

Lin Mo looked back at him.

The two stared at each other for three seconds.

Wu Yong finally spoke, his voice so raspy it didn't sound like his own:

"You killed it?"

Lin Mo was silent for a second.

Then he shook his head.

"Everyone killed it together."

Wu Yong was stunned for a moment.

"Together?"

He turned to look around at the students hiding behind trees, peeking out cautiously. Their faces were pale, their bodies trembling; some were crying, others were leaning against tree trunks dry-heaving.

These people?

He turned back and looked at Lin Mo.

Lin Mo's expression hadn't changed at all.

Wu Yong took a deep breath and didn't press further. He raised his wrist, preparing to report to Yuan Shoucheng.

Then he froze.

A burst of static came from the Communication Bracelet on his wrist.

The harsh buzzing of electrical interference rang out piercingly.

He switched channels.

Still static.

Wu Yong's face darkened.

"The signal is being jammed."

Lin Mo's eyes flickered slightly.

"The Mimics did it?"

Wu Yong shook his head. "I don't know. Let's head back to camp first."

...

Back at the camp, Wu Yong took Lin Mo straight to the Command Headquarters. Yi Xiaoyu wanted to follow, but Wu Yong stopped her with a look.

Inside the Command Headquarters, Yuan Shoucheng was standing in front of a large screen, smoking.

Seeing Lin Mo enter, his gaze swept over him from head to toe—the tears in the combat suit, the wounds on his body, the bloodstains on his face.

Then he looked at Wu Yong.

Wu Yong didn't speak; he just nodded.

Yuan Shoucheng's pupils constricted slightly.

He was silent for a few seconds before gesturing for Lin Mo to sit.

"Tell me, what happened?"

Lin Mo sat in the chair and recounted the events.

From the Detector finding an anomaly, to the Mimic appearing, to it tearing off its human skin, and finally saying, 'Give me the ring.'

Yuan Shoucheng's brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

"What ring?" Yuan Shoucheng stared at Lin Mo.

Lin Mo raised his hand, took off the spatial ring, and placed it on the table.

"This one that Zhou Xiong gave me."

Yuan Shoucheng's pupils constricted sharply.

He looked at the ring; it was pitch black, set with a dark red gemstone that had light slowly flowing within it.

He had seen this ring before; Zhou Xiong had worn it for years and never let it leave his side.

"What's inside?"

Lin Mo looked at him.

"A heart."

The temperature in the Command Headquarters instantly dropped several degrees.

"What kind of heart?"

"Zhou Xiong hid it in the ring and gave it to me. I don't know if he did it on purpose."

"Take it out and let me see!"

Lin Mo nodded and took out the heart in front of everyone.

Boom!

The second the heart appeared, everyone's expression changed drastically.

"Quick! Put it away!"

Yuan Shoucheng immediately barked.

However, just as he finished speaking, a loud explosion suddenly came from outside the command room.

Boom—!

The entire ground was trembling.

Lin Mo stood up abruptly.

Yuan Shoucheng rushed to the window and looked outside.

In the camp, flames soared into the sky.

Dark shadows were darting through the camp at incredible speeds. Screams, shouts, and roars blended together.

Someone was shouting, "Monsters! There are monsters!"

Another loud boom.

This time, it came from outside the camp.

The earth shook and the mountains swayed.

It was as if some colossal creature was approaching step by step.

The camp's alarm blared.

A soldier on guard duty let out a heart-wrenching cry: "Enemy attack!"

Lin Mo rushed out of the Command Headquarters.

The camp was already in total chaos.

Amidst the flames, he saw grayish-black figures pouncing on students who were too slow to react.

A veteran in military uniform had grabbed a girl and bitten into her neck; she let out a scream as blood sprayed everywhere.

Further away, the camp's perimeter wall—a three-meter-thick reinforced concrete wall—was collapsing.

It hadn't been blown up.

It had been smashed open.

A massive creature was squeezing through the collapsing gap.

It was over ten meters long, covered in pitch-black scales, with a row of menacing bone spikes protruding from its back. Its eyes were dark red, like two clusters of burning ghostly fire. With every step it took, the ground trembled.

Behind it were even more figures.

Rank 3. Rank 4.

One. Two. Ten.

Countless.

Lin Mo stood in the firelight, watching the slowly approaching behemoth.

The system's notification tone exploded in his mind:

[Warning! Lord-class ferocious beast detected!]

[Energy Level: Rank 5!]

[Quantity: 1!]

[Mimic aura detected!]

[Rank 3 Mimics: 17!]

[Rank 4 Mimics: 4!]

[Warning! Immediate evacuation recommended!]

Yuan Shoucheng rushed out.

He looked at the giant beast, the dark shadows pouncing on the crowd, the soaring flames and the blood, his face turning as white as paper.