20: Chapter 20 Nighttime Infiltration of the Abandoned Military Factory!

The wasteland under the cover of night was a purgatory that had lost all order.

The sky had neither stars nor moon; the thick darkness seemed ready to swallow a person alive.

Chen Chen pulled down his multi-functional tactical goggles.

Low-light motion capture mode activated, and streams of neon green data flickered across the lenses.

His field of vision suddenly opened up.

Five hundred meters ahead, the silhouette of the abandoned military factory resembled a dormant giant beast.

The surrounding wilderness was teeming with wandering Aberrants.

Under the goggles' infrared thermal imaging, these monsters' bodies had swollen a full size larger than during the day, their entire forms radiating a dark red glow that signaled extreme danger.

They moved at lightning speed, on all fours, leaping back and forth between piles of rubble while emitting teeth-gritting hisses.

Chen Chen did not rush to activate "Absolute Stealth".

With only two chances per day, each lasting six minutes, the best steel had to be used on the blade's edge.

He had the [Monster Ignore] trait provided by Shen Wanxing.

A two-meter absolute blind spot.

As long as he did not step across this red line.

In the eyes of these low-intelligence monsters, he was nothing but a puff of air.

His Shadow Tactical Boots stepped onto the gravel-filled ground without emitting a single sound of friction.

Chen Chen's strides were even, his breathing long and steady.

At the intersection ahead, three frenzied low-level Aberrants were tearing at an animal carcass.

Chen Chen walked straight past, brushing shoulders with the monster on the left.

A distance of one and a half meters.

The monster's sharp claws even stirred up a fishy stench that grazed Chen Chen's tactical trousers.

Yet, it showed absolutely no reaction to the living feast right under its nose, continuing to bury its head and gnaw on those few broken bones.

Chen Chen strolled as if he were walking in a leisurely courtyard, weaving through the gaps in the frenzied monster horde.

The extreme muscle control brought about by his 50 points in Physique allowed every step, sidestep, and evasion to be as precise as a geometric displacement calculated countless times.

Five minutes later.

Chen Chen successfully passed through the outer defensive line and stood behind the rusted iron fence gate of the military factory.

He leaned his back against a collapsed red brick wall and opened the private chat channel on his retina.

He found Jiang Yanxue's ID.

He sent a message: ["I'm in."]

In the core area of the military factory, inside the second-floor command room of Workshop A.

The heavy explosion-proof door was firmly propped shut by several rusted iron tables, and muffled thudding sounds came incessantly from outside.

Jiang Yanxue leaned against the corner of the wall, clutching a machete with a dulled, rolled edge in her hand.

She wore a black, skin-tight combat suit that outlined her explosive curves.

Her face, usually cold as ice, was stained with streaks of dried blood, and her eyes were bloodshot.

The virtual panel lit up.

Seeing the four-character message, Jiang Yanxue's expression shifted slightly.

"He's in?"

There were at least fifty frenzied Aberrants in the outer zone; how did this person manage to get in out of thin air without causing even the slightest commotion?

Jiang Yanxue closed her eyes.

She activated her SS-rank exclusive talent [Aberration Domination].

This talent allowed her to forcibly intervene in the central nervous systems of low-level Aberrants, briefly seizing control and utilizing the monsters' senses as her own.

She quickly switched her perspective to several "lookouts" wandering the outskirts of the factory area.

The monsters' crimson vision unfolded in Jiang Yanxue's mind.

Dilapidated factory buildings, industrial waste scattered everywhere, and the hisses of her own kind.

Empty.

There was no trace of any human.

She couldn't even capture a heat source signal of a living person.

Jiang Yanxue opened her eyes, her brow locked in a tight knot, her heart surging with turbulent waves.

"Is this person human or a ghost?"

To be able to completely block the monsters' perception—even her SS-rank talent for controlling Aberrants couldn't find a single flaw.

At the same time.

In the shadows on the outskirts of the factory area.

Chen Chen paused his steps slightly.

In the green light of his goggles' vision, the behavioral patterns of two Aberrants near the abandoned sentry box to his front right deviated from the norm.

While the other monsters were wandering and hissing aimlessly, dominated by their bloodthirsty instincts.

These two were unnervingly quiet.

They stood motionless, their heads turning slowly and at a constant speed, their pupils showing clear signs of focus, their movement trajectories carrying a strong sense of human purpose.

They were looking for someone.

Chen Chen curled the corner of his lips, a touch of coldness emerging.

"Interesting. Human consciousness is hidden within the eyes of the monsters."

He had guessed Jiang Yanxue's trump card.

To be able to manipulate monsters—no wonder she dared to venture alone into such a high-risk area.

It was also a tricky talent.

Chen Chen decided to play along.

He lowered his body and, utilizing the blind spot of the sentry box, deliberately avoided the scanning range of those two "lookouts."

As for trump cards, the deeper they were hidden, the more lethal they would be when it came time to turn the tables.

Let Jiang Yanxue continue guessing.

After bypassing the sentry box, Chen Chen's gaze swept across the cluttered open space and locked onto Workshop C, a hundred meters away.

It was a vast, arched building.

The massive sheet-metal rolling door was tightly shut, with faded military serial numbers spray-painted on it.

According to the intelligence provided by Jiang Yanxue, the unassembled military armored personnel carrier was inside.

Chen Chen drew the tactical silenced pistol from his waist and chambered a round.

His Shadow Tactical Boots stepped through puddles of water as he approached Workshop C.

The rolling door of Workshop C had a gap the width of a person, its sheet-metal edges curled outward as if ripped open by some giant creature.

The pungent smell of machine oil and the stench of rotting flesh poured out from the gap, drilling straight into his nostrils.

Chen Chen pressed himself sideways against the door frame and switched his goggles to infrared thermal imaging mode.

Green data streams danced on the lenses, and the scene inside the workshop was clear at a glance.

Big.

This was Chen Chen's first reaction.

Workshop C had a span of at least forty meters and an arched ceiling over fifteen meters high—enough to fit two helicopters.

In the center of the floor sat a dark green military armored personnel carrier.

It had eight-wheel drive, a body length of over seven meters, and a thick steel plate welded shut over the turret position.

This thing's curb weight was at least twelve tons or more.

Good stuff.

But the things lying around this good stuff weren't very pretty.

In the goggles, nearly twenty dark red heat source signals were scattered throughout the workshop.

Some were squatting on industrial shelves, some were hanging from the steel beams of the overhead crane, and some were lying right next to the wheels of the personnel carrier, gnawing on a leg bone of unknown origin.

Under the nighttime frenzied state, the low-level Aberrants had swollen a full size, their muscle fibers bulging beneath their grey-purple skin.

Their eyes were blood-red, and thick, viscous saliva dripped continuously from their mouths, making "drip-drop" sounds as it hit the concrete floor.

The one lying on top of the personnel carrier was on a completely different level in terms of size.

Its two-and-a-half-meter height was curled up on the armor plating, and the calcified bone spurs on its back had bent the antenna on the roof.

The most conspicuous part was its right arm—completely mutated from the elbow joint down, the forearm bone had expanded outward to form a bony hammerhead over half a meter in diameter.

The surface of the hammerhead was covered in fine cracks, with dark red liquid seeping from each crack.

It was sleeping.

Two heavy breaths puffed white mist from its nostrils, emitting a stench strong enough to knock a person out.

[Elite-level Aberrant: Bone-Hammer Tyrant.]

Twenty frenzied minions plus one elite.

In the eyes of the poor wretches outside who hadn't even been assigned a vehicle, this configuration was known as "take one look and turn around to run."

If a hundred-man armed squad were brought in for a frontal assault, at least half would lose their lives.

Chen Chen pushed his goggles up, revealing a pair of calm eyes.

"Absolute Stealth, activate."

[Ding! "Absolute Stealth" has been activated, duration 6 minutes, attack limit 6 times.]

A cold current surged up his spine, and water-like ripples spread from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

Light refracted on the surface of his body, and his entire existence was erased from a visual level.

His Shadow Tactical Boots stepped onto the workshop's concrete floor.

Chen Chen stepped over the threshold and walked into the monster den.

Three meters to his right, an Aberrant was burying its head in a pile of industrial waste, searching for food.

It suddenly flung its head up, its murky red eyes sweeping in the direction where Chen Chen was standing.

It saw nothing.

It snorted and buried its head back down.

Chen Chen cut across a position half a meter from its nose.

The hot air exhaled by the monster hit his forearm, smelling pungently fishy.

He didn't stop.

He passed through the first row of shelves.

He bypassed the three Aberrants squatting on the ground.

He ducked to avoid a monster hanging upside down from the overhead crane's beam.

He walked to the side of the armored personnel carrier.

Seeing this military vehicle up close was even more oppressive than through the goggles.

Each of the eight wheels was half a person tall, the vehicle's welded seams were rough and solid, and the side armor plates were a full three centimeters thick.

This was an industrial monster truly designed for the battlefield.

Two meters above his head, the Bone-Hammer Tyrant's breathing rose and fell, causing the vehicle body to resonate slightly.

Chen Chen raised his hand, his palm pressed against the cold steel surface of the armored personnel carrier.

The cold, hard touch characteristic of metal came from beneath his palm.

"Dismantle."