19: Chapter 19 The Harpoon Cannon Shows Its Power! The Brutal Hunt on the Icefield

Click!

As the brass switch was pushed to the top, the powerful heart of the Polaris roared once again with a deafening sound.

Inside the pressurization chamber, the freshly added pure water vaporized under extreme heat. The terrifying pressure that built up was enough to burst the pipe walls.

At this moment, the crazed Mutated Ice-Rock Pig had already charged to within two meters of the Polaris's side armor.

Its blood-red maw, filled with fangs, was wide open, and its rock-like shoulder armor slammed heavily toward the scrap-steel side skirt protecting the tracks. It was convinced it had found the blind spot of this iron contraption.

However, just at the critical moment before it was about to collide, a hidden square opening suddenly flipped open on the uneven armor on the side of the Polaris.

A ferocious-looking pure copper nozzle, covered in honeycomb-like holes, poked out and aimed directly at the Mutated Ice-Rock Pig's open maw!

Hiss!!!

A piercing shriek that tore through the eardrums suddenly erupted. Two-hundred-degree high-heat steam mixed with boiling water formed a dazzling white waterfall, slamming directly into the face of the Mutated Ice-Rock Pig at point-blank range! It then surged violently down its open mouth, pouring into its throat and lungs!

"Awooo! Glub-glub-glub!!!"

An agonizing scream was instantly drowned out by the gurgling sound of boiling water.

The Mutated Ice-Rock Pig's mutated cuticle, which could withstand the extreme cold of minus one hundred degrees, not only failed to provide protection after being blasted by two-hundred-degree boiling water at point-blank range, but instead emitted crackling, bean-popping sounds of rupture due to the terrifying temperature difference!

Its eyeballs were instantly cooked and burst within a tenth of a second, turning into two clumps of grayish-white gelatinous matter.

Its massive body twitched crazily in extreme pain.

The originally fierce charging motion was abruptly deformed in mid-air, and like a mad bull that had lost its mind, it collapsed heavily at the feet of the Polaris.

It rolled wildly on the ice, kicking its four hooves in a frenzy, attempting to extinguish a fire that didn't exist. Large mouthfuls of white foam, mixed with blood and fragments of cooked internal organs, poured from its mouth and nose.

After spraying for only three seconds, Lu Chen coldly pulled the switch down. The surrounding air was filled with thick white mist, obscuring the most brutal slaughter.

The Mutated Ice-Rock Pig, which had been so arrogant just a moment ago, was now lying on the ground, barely breathing.

Half of its head and neck had been scalded to a grayish-white color, even emitting a nauseating smell of burnt flesh.

"A perfect close-defense weapon," Lu Chen evaluated as he watched the monitor. "It can't kill this thick-skinned medium-sized monster, but it's enough to strip away its mobility and vision, turning it into meat on a chopping block."

"Using steam to scald prey to death is too wasteful of water, and the damage to internal organs will also affect the collection of loot. Since it's already paralyzed, I'll grant you a quick end."

Lu Chen stood up, stepped over the repeating crossbow, and looked up at the roof of the vehicle.

He gripped the two hanging brass handles tightly, his eyes pressed firmly against the eye pad of the periscope-style sight. It was time to let the real heavy firepower see some blood.

As his hands turned, the heavy turret on the roof, which exuded a wasteland aesthetic of violence, emitted a deep, grating sound.

The two-meter-long, incredibly thick black iron cannon barrel slowly lowered amidst the whistling wind and snow. The crosshairs locked tightly onto the abdomen of the twitching Mutated Ice-Rock Pig on the ground.

"The first shot. For stronger armor." Lu Chen's gaze was cold and hard, and his right thumb pressed firmly on the red firing button at the top of the handle!

Bang!!!

This loud noise drowned out all the howling wind and snow on the wasteland! The heavy body of the Polaris, reinforced with tons of scrap steel, was actually forced back half a meter by this terrifying recoil!

The tracks screeched piercingly against the ice! The muzzle instantly spat out a thick cloud of black gunpowder smoke and a dazzling tongue of orange-red flame!

A fifty-pound pure steel harpoon, gleaming with a cold, chilling light, dragged a thick alloy chain behind it, and with terrifying kinetic energy exceeding the speed of sound, it fiercely tore through the thick white mist!

There was no suspense. The barbed tip of the harpoon pierced through the hard rocky cuticle on the Mutated Ice-Rock Pig's abdomen as easily as cutting tofu.

The fifty pounds of pure steel kinetic energy nailed its multi-ton body firmly onto the ice layer!

This was only the beginning.

"Three, two, one." Lu Chen counted silently.

Bang!!!

The miniature delayed-action blasting fuse hidden inside the harpoon detonated inside the Mutated Ice-Rock Pig! A heavy explosion emanated from within the monster.

The Mutated Ice-Rock Pig's massive body suddenly swelled into a bizarre spherical shape, then violently burst apart!

A rain of blood, mixed with fragments of internal organs and shattered cuticle, splattered across the snowfield.

The once arrogant behemoth had been blown into two pieces. The rear half, held by the chain, was still twitching unconsciously, while the front half had been blown into a bloody mess and was completely dead.

A one-hit kill, ultimate physical destruction. Lu Chen looked at the mess on the ground, his chest rising and falling slightly.

The strong smell of gunpowder smoke seeped in through the vents, stimulating his nerves and providing unprecedented comfort to his severe fear of insufficient firepower.

"This is what you call firepower overflow."

He pushed open the vehicle door and stepped out, braving the minus-sixty-degree cold outside. He strode over to the pile of minced meat and skillfully used a short knife to pry open a pile of bloody, mangled tissue.

A primary beast core, emitting a faint blue light and slightly larger than the primary beast core of an Icefield Wolf, was firmly held in his hand.

The explosion had damaged part of the energy structure, but the blue light patterns of the core were still pulsing faintly.

Subsequently, he followed the thick alloy chain and dragged back the mangled remains of the harpoon.

The pure steel shaft of the harpoon had been shattered into several pieces of deformed scrap metal by the internal explosion, but the chain and the firing mechanism inside the cannon barrel were still intact.

"Harpoons are consumables; I need to collect scrap steel as soon as possible to forge new spare ammunition." Lu Chen threw these remnants into the scrap metal box inside the vehicle, then glanced at the beast core and calmly evaluated.

"This damaged primary beast core can be exchanged for at least fifty Truth Points. There is still a long way to go before reaching the thousands of points needed to unlock all core nodes."

Just as he pocketed the beast core and prepared to close the vehicle door, a harsh roar of a high-revving internal combustion engine, distinct from the sound of the wind and snow, suddenly came faintly from behind a distant ice hill.

The sound was intense; a convoy had arrived!

His movements stopped, and he quickly looked up toward the source of the sound.

"Interesting." The muscles in Lu Chen's face tightened, and a palpable killing intent welled up in his eyes.

He gripped his blood-stained short knife and deftly sheathed it into his boot.