185: Chapter 185 Melting the Nuclear Blast-Proof Door with Bare Hands!

No sooner had Hunk finished speaking than Kevin's neck snapped violently, emitting a series of crisp "crack, crack" sounds.

He strode over two twitching, dismembered corpses, stretched out his long arm, and snatched a surviving Soldier hiding behind an overturned table.

The Soldier clutched his head tightly with both hands, a puddle of foul-smelling yellow fluid dripping from his crotch, while he muttered unintelligible prayers.

"Shh." Kevin raised a finger to his lips. Before the other could make a sound, his right hand clenched shut.

Crack. The crisp sound of a breaking neck echoed through the corridor. Kevin tossed the limp corpse into a corner like a bag of trash.

"So noisy." Lin Hao walked over from behind, rifle in hand, his muzzle casually dipping downward as he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

A "corpse" in the corner, which was trying to quietly reach for a handgun, had its head explode instantly like a watermelon, splattering red and white matter all over the wall.

Hunk ignored the casual killing spree of these two maniacs. He glanced down at his tactical tablet.

On the screen, the schematic representing the entire fortress defense zone had turned a glaring blood-red. Only in the deepest core location on the third underground level was there a green square flickering, stubborn as an isolated island.

Hunk looked up and pointed toward the giant door at the end of the corridor, which was cast entirely from titanium alloy and covered in heavy hydraulic locks.

"The Core Command Center is behind that door." Hunk turned to look at Elena, who hadn't made a move yet. "The Boss wants them alive, don't kill them."

Elena tilted her head slightly, revealing a fair chin beneath her hood. She didn't reply, simply stepping forward and walking straight toward the door.

By now, the corridor had become a buffet for G-Virus mutants. Several monsters, covered in black bone spurs with bulging eyes, were sprawled on the ground, frantically devouring fresh flesh. The thick, cloying smell of blood mixed with the stench of stomach contents, making the air so viscous it was suffocating.

Hearing the sound of boots on the metal floor, the largest mutant, whose jaw had been completely torn apart, whipped its head around. It let out a low, beastly growl as if guarding its food, its thick hind legs gripping the ground, ready to pounce.

Elena didn't stop walking. She didn't even lift an eyelid.

In the 0.1 seconds before the mutant leaped, an extreme terror, deep within its genetic sequence, was suddenly driven into its brain—a brain that should have been devoid of reason, possessed only by the instinct for violent slaughter.

"Wooo—" The once fierce mutant forcibly twisted its body mid-air and crashed heavily to the ground. Its massive frame curled into a ball, scrambling backward, back pressed hard against the wall. It even spat out the half-arm it had just bitten into.

It was trembling. And it wasn't just the one; as Elena walked past, all the remaining monsters in the corridor acted like cubs encountering a natural predator. They squeezed into corners frantically, hiding their heads beneath their bodies, emitting whimpering cries from their throats, terrified of attracting even the slightest attention from this woman.

The bloodline suppression brought by the T-Veronica Virus was displayed to the fullest at this moment. Before an absolute superior being, these defective products injected with a weakened version of the G-Virus didn't even have the qualification to look her in the eye.

Elena strolled through this slaughterhouse as if taking a leisurely walk. Finally, she stopped in front of the massive blast door.

...

Separated by a wall, on the third underground level, the Core Command Center. The noise of the air purification system running at full power couldn't mask the deathly silence filling the space. Dozens of technicians and staff officers slumped in their chairs; no one spoke, only the sound of rapid, heavy breathing rose and fell.

General Amos gripped the edge of the tactical command console with both hands, his fingernails scraping a harsh sound against the metal surface. His hair, previously groomed meticulously, was completely disheveled, his tie pulled askew, and his chest heaved violently like a bellows.

"What is the situation outside?" Amos's voice was as hoarse as two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together.

The communications soldier in the corner shivered, swallowing hard, his voice thick with a clear sob: "Gen, General... we can't get out. The elevator shafts in Sector A and Sector B have all been destroyed, and the backup passage in Sector C has been... blocked off by dozens of those things. We are trapped like rats in a cage."

Hearing this, an adjutant nearby finally couldn't take it anymore; he ripped off his military cap and smashed it hard onto the floor.

"It's over! We're all fucking going to die here! What the hell are those things outside? Bullets can't pierce them, grenades can't kill them! Why didn't our AWACS respond at all? Why!"

"Shut up!" Amos suddenly straightened up, pulled the handgun from his waist, and slammed it heavily onto the table. The crisp metallic clatter made everyone shrink their necks.

Amos's eyes were bloodshot, staring fixedly at the heavy door directly in front of him, roaring through gritted teeth: "This main blast door is a one-meter-thick titanium alloy sandwich structure! It can withstand a direct hit from a 100-kiloton nuclear warhead! Even if those scumbags outside claw their paws off, they won't be able to leave a single white mark on it!"

He gasped for air, as if reprimanding his subordinates, or perhaps more like desperately trying to convince himself.

"As long as we hold out until dawn... they will definitely discover that we've lost contact. The nearest armored brigade can push through in just two hours. As long as this door doesn't break, we won't die!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the technician sitting at the front monitoring console suddenly let out a shrill, distorted scream.

"Gen, General!" The technician pointed with trembling hands at the only monitoring screen still flickering, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets, "Look... look at the camera by the door!"

All gazes slammed toward it in an instant. In the black-and-white night vision footage, the mutant monsters that should have been blocking the door and smashing it frantically had now obediently retreated to both sides of the corridor. In the center of the frame, a slender woman in a black combat suit stood quietly in front of the blast door.

Due to the angle, the camera couldn't capture her face. One could only see her examining the massive metal door with an extremely casual posture.

The command center was deathly silent.

"Who is that?" The adjutant stood frozen, mouth slightly agape. How could a living human appear out of thin air in a pile of mutant monsters? And why didn't those monsters tear her apart?

Amos frowned deeply. Various possibilities flashed through his mind, but none could explain the bizarre scene before him.

"I don't care who she is." Amos suddenly sneered, his tense nerves unexpectedly relaxing. "The blast door is hydraulically locked from the inside; without the highest-level physical passcode, not even a fly can get in. Even if she stands out there until she drops dead..."

However, Amos's words came to an abrupt halt. In the surveillance footage, the woman slowly raised her right hand. A faint, orange-red glow lit up in her palm. Immediately after, that glow flared up instantly!

No fuel, no medium required. A ball of flame, intense enough to completely distort the air, burned and danced out of thin air at her fingertips. Even through the thick screen, everyone in the command center could practically feel a terrifying heatwave rushing toward them.

The infrared thermal imaging monitor in front of the technician emitted a shrill, prolonged alarm. The temperature reading on the screen instantly went off the charts, turning completely into a glaring, bright white screen of death.

"This impossible..." The adjutant's legs went weak, and he collapsed onto the floor.

In the horrified gaze of everyone, Elena slowly pressed that burning palm gently onto the one-meter-thick titanium alloy door.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor any deafening sound. Only a very slight, strange "hissing" sound was heard.

The next second, the alarm bells of the entire underground command center blared in an uproar! Blinding red lights flashed like crazy!

"Warning! External temperature of the main hatch rising rapidly! Two thousand degrees... three thousand degrees... Warning! Structural integrity is being lost!"

Accompanied by the cold, sharp, synthesized mechanical voice, Amos watched helplessly as a fist-sized, dazzling red spot lit up in the center of the super blast door, which was touted as being "impenetrable even by a nuclear bomb."

Only three seconds passed. The red spot expanded rapidly outward. The surface of the titanium alloy began to twist and bulge bizarrely, just like butter thrown into a steel-smelting furnace.

"Sizzle—" A drop of molten iron emitting white smoke seeped directly out of the door panel, dripping onto the marble floor and instantly burning a charred, deep pit. Following that came the second drop, then the third.

A large area of the alloy was completely melted. The molten iron gathered into a glaring, orange-red waterfall, flowing down the door panel. A pungent, metallic, scorched odor permeated the air, and several tactical tables and chairs near the door actually ignited spontaneously due to the rapidly soaring room temperature!

"What kind of joke is this..." Amos retreated repeatedly, knocking over the chair behind him with his backside, his back pressed hard against the cold wall. That face, usually arrogant, was now twisted and deformed by fear. The one-meter-thick alloy blast door was, in front of the flames, more fragile than a layer of window paper.

"Boom!" Accompanied by a teeth-grinding sound of tearing metal, the heavy load-bearing locks in the middle of the door were completely melted by the high heat. The entire piece of alloy door, weighing tens of tons, let out a groan and collapsed inward, slamming heavily onto the floor and splashing a large amount of molten iron.

A scorching airflow, mixed with the strong smell of blood from outside, instantly filled the entire command center.

Behind the red-hot metal door frame, Elena withdrew her hand, and the wisp of flame at her fingertips quietly extinguished. She slightly raised her head, and those cold, indifferent eyes crossed over the room full of trembling people, precisely locking onto Amos, who was pressed against the corner.