65: Chapter 65: New Regional Survival Challenge Mission!

Qin Hongye stared at the sizzling, oily roasted pork chop in Su Xiaoqi's hand, her throat bobbing involuntarily.

The energy fluctuations on it were too violent.

The flesh of a Mutation-level monster.

In the Black Dragon Society, only Seven Blades and Jiang Yanxue were qualified to receive a fingernail-sized piece, to be used to sustain their lives when they couldn't hold on any longer.

Now, this little girl was gnawing on it like a snack and even wanted to share it with her?

"Take it." Chen Chen leaned against the driver's seat without turning his head.

Only then did Qin Hongye dare to reach out and take it.

She took a bite.

Heat exploded along her esophagus, and pure energy washed over her entire body.

The stamina she had consumed from running thirty kilometers just moments ago was replenished in an instant.

Her muscle fibers were heating up, her bones were humming, and even her fingertips were tingling with a dense, numbing sensation.

She lowered her head and looked at the half-eaten roasted pork chop in her hand, her eyes slightly reddening.

The foundation of this vehicle was unfathomably deep.

Qin Hongye gripped her Gauss sniper rifle tightly, her fingertips stroking the stock repeatedly.

"Beep—"

A piercing system alert sound exploded simultaneously in the minds of all survivors in District 069.

Scarlet fonts flashed wildly.

[Regional Survival Challenge Mission Triggered!]

[Mission Name: Awakening of the Crimson Hive]

[Mission Background: In the core area of the Flesh Wasteland, the dormant "Crimson Hive" is absorbing geothermal energy to complete its third-tier evolution.

Once the evolution is successful, the Flesh Wasteland will expand tenfold and devour the hunting grounds!]

[Mission Objective: Destroy the core of the Crimson Hive, or inflict over 10% effective damage to it.]

[Mission Rewards: Ranked in real-time based on damage contribution.

First place: Golden Blueprint Blind Box * 1, Intermediate Vehicle Core * 50, Free Attribute Points * 20.

Second to Fifth place: Random Purple-grade Equipment * 1, Intermediate Vehicle Core * 30.

Participation Prize: Anyone who inflicts effective damage can receive a large amount of basic supplies and experience compensation.]

[Countdown: 24 hours.]

The cabin was silent for a few seconds.

"Golden Blueprint Blind Box."

Jiang Yanxue read these words aloud.

Shen Wanxing blinked and turned to look at Chen Chen.

"Are we going?"

Chen Chen didn't answer immediately.

A Golden Blueprint Blind Box.

This reward was already explosive enough.

But a distance of four hundred and twenty kilometers, a twenty-four-hour countdown, and the unknown crustal movements and zombie hordes along the way—

The risks were also ridiculously high.

"Shen Wanbing, report coordinates."

Shen Wanbing's fingers were already pressing on her concentration ice heart necklace, and the Radar's full-area scanning module was instantly running at full power.

Her face turned pale, as a massive stream of data was bombarding her brain.

"Northeast direction, straight-line distance of four hundred and twenty kilometers.

An extremely massive high-energy aggregate, and the energy level is still climbing."

"Route conditions?"

"Very bad." Shen Wanbing spoke extremely fast, "The awakening of the Broodmother Nest has triggered crustal movements in the wasteland, with a large number of fissures and toxic gas geysers appearing along the way.

And—"

She paused for a moment.

"There are many convoys heading in that direction.

There are three largest groups."

"The first group, due north, two hundred kilometers away.

All heavy military armored vehicles, numbering over fifty.

The heat source characteristics show extremely strong discipline."

"The military's 'Iron Wall'." Chen Chen stated the name directly.

"The second group, due east, three hundred kilometers away.

The convoy is very mixed, with several heavy armed trucks at the core, and strong energy reactions."

"It should be the main force of the Southern Border Hunter Guild or the Jiang Consortium." Jiang Yanxue interjected.

Shen Wanbing shook her head and enlarged the Radar panel projection.

"The third group is the closest to us, eighty kilometers to the northeast.

They have occupied the only path to the Broodmother Nest—a steel viaduct spanning a toxic swamp.

The convoy size is about thirty vehicles, all painted with a white cross emblem."

"The Holy Light Church."

Chen Chen tapped the steering wheel with his finger.

Previously in the underground caves of Gluttony Town, the joint advance team of the Southern Border Hunter Guild and the Holy Light Church had been crushed by him.

The survivors had tasted the iron fist of five thousand armor-piercing incendiary rounds at the town exit.

He didn't expect the main force of these religious fanatics to be nearby.

The Church was blocking the bridge, which meant if he wanted to pass, he had to bite this hard bone first.

Detour?

The toxic swamp was at least twenty kilometers wide.

Although the magnetic levitation engine ignores most terrain, prolonged exposure to high-concentration corrosive toxic gas would corrode even A-grade armor.

Crashing through head-on was the only choice.

"Boss, these people from the Holy Light Church are crazy."

Jiang Yanxue walked to the side of the driver's seat and deliberately lowered her voice.

"They believe the apocalypse is a divine punishment and are kidnapping living people everywhere to perform 'purification rituals'.

That 'The Shepherd' ranked fifth is an extremely dangerous psychic-type esper."

"Psychic-type?"

"He can forcibly twist the will of others, turning them into fanatical believers without any sense of pain.

Many of the drivers in those white-cross convoys are puppets brainwashed by him."

Psychic-type ability.

Chen Chen unconsciously rubbed his temples with his right hand.

With 55 points in mental attributes, plus the Ghost Fortress's 300 points of magic resistance from the B-grade energy deflection shield—if that "The Shepherd" on the other side dared to extend his tentacles into his brain, it would be suicide.

What he feared was the others in the vehicle.

Su Xiaoqi's mental attributes couldn't possibly be very high.

Shen Wanxing was also in trouble.

"Notify Seven Blades behind us to speed up and catch up."

Chen Chen pushed the joystick.

"Qin Hongye, take your gun and go to the second-level sniper position.

Do not fire without my order."

"Yes!"

Qin Hongye hugged the dark silver Gauss sniper rifle, climbed the folding ladder with agile movements, and in less than three seconds, she was already lying behind the special shooting port on the second level.

She pressed the stock against her shoulder, and the sight lit up!

She adjusted her breathing to the lowest frequency, and her A-grade Eagle Eye talent automatically activated—every detail in her field of vision was magnified to the pore level.

"Shen Wanxing, get your hands ready."

Shen Wanxing nodded obediently, rubbed her two small, fair hands together, and made a cheering expression.

The A-grade magnetic levitation engine emitted a high-frequency shriek.

The eighteen-ton Ghost Fortress left a dark afterimage on the wasteland, heading straight for the steel viaduct to the northeast.

Eighty kilometers.

Speed of two hundred and twenty.

Less than twenty-five minutes.

On the horizon ahead, a magnificent steel ruin gradually took shape.

It was a cross-sea bridge over ten kilometers long, its steel deck rusty and mottled, with bridge piers driven into the decaying swamp churning with green toxic fog.

At the entrance of the bridge, more than thirty heavy armored vehicles painted with white cross emblems were lined up in three rows, sealing the passage airtight.

Several metal sentry towers, temporarily welded to the bridge railings, were mounted with large-caliber machine guns and searchlights.

Chen Chen slowed down to sixty yards and approached slowly.

The moment the camera zoomed in, he saw the scene outside the blockade line clearly.

Dozens of ragged survivors were kneeling on the ground, their hands tied behind their backs with wire.

Three priests in white robes and cross masks were holding some kind of glowing viscous liquid, pouring it spoon by spoon onto their heads.

The moment the liquid touched their skin, the survivors let out shrill screams.

Their skin ulcerated, scabbed, and ulcerated again at a speed visible to the naked eye.

A few seconds later, the screams stopped abruptly—their pupils emitted a fanatical white light, their struggles ceased, their limbs stopped trembling, and they completely turned into puppets without any self-consciousness.

"They are forcibly creating fanatical believers." Shen Wanbing pressed her concentration ice heart necklace, her voice tight.

Chen Chen drove the eighteen-ton floating behemoth and continued to approach.

The dark black integrated armor, the six pulsating blue electric arcs on the chassis, and the two hemispherical weapon pods on the roof—

This getup was simply too eye-catching in the wasteland.