35: Section 35

Because this place... is a nest of Phage Beasts.

The entire warehouse was occupied by Earth Vines.

On the warehouse floor, there were numerous piles of flesh soil.

Ran Bing looked at the surrounding flesh soil and asked in confusion, "Why are there so many people here?"

Mark looked at the surroundings and replied, "These were likely brought in by the Phage Beasts. Some Phage Beasts take a long time to digest, so they bring their food back to the nest."

"Food?" Ran Bing felt a wave of nausea, but she quickly brought her emotions under control.

Beside them, Mo Cheng said with some confusion, "According to The Lighthouse reports, no Phage Beasts have appeared in this vicinity, and the danger level was assessed as normal. It seems the reports are unreliable."

Mark walked to the center of the hall, scanning the environment.

There was mana ecology here, and traces of Phage Beast activity; it was definitely a nest, but fortunately, the Phage Beasts were not present.

This gave Mark and the others an opportunity.

"Quick! Move these things out before the Phage Beasts return!"

Mo Cheng waved to those behind him, and the Wasteland Hunters and Dust Citizen laborers began moving supplies together.

In such an emergency, whether they were Upper Citizens or Dust Citizens didn't matter; moving the supplies as fast as possible was the priority.

Mark took Ran Bing and Corey to stand guard around the perimeter.

Suddenly, a long tail dangled down from the ceiling.

Corey immediately raised his gun to shoot, but Mark held him back.

The dangling tail remained still for a long time. Mark stepped forward to look and saw a massive Phage Beast sprawled on a roof beam, sleeping.

Seeing this, Corey was relieved he hadn't fired, or he would have woken the big guy up.

Mark signaled for everyone to remain silent and move the supplies quietly.

However, with so many people in the team, it was inevitable that some noise would be made while moving supplies.

Mark silently entered his gravity body, and the others prepared themselves as well.

The first group of people left with two crates of supplies. When they went to move the third crate, no one noticed that a pillar of the shelving unit was caught behind it.

As the crate moved, the balance of the pillar was disrupted, and the shelves above came crashing down!

For a moment, a loud clattering noise echoed through the area.

"Run! Get out of here!" Mark immediately jumped down, standing ready and staring intently at the Phage Beast ahead.

The Phage Beast looked lazy and indifferent.

At first, it seemed unconcerned, but after just a few seconds, its gaze changed, locking onto Mark and his team.

"Ya-ow!"

The Phage Beast let out a strange cry and charged directly at the Wasteland Hunters.

"Fire!"

At Mark's command, all the Wasteland Hunters opened fire on the Phage Beast.

Muzzle flashes lit up the area, and even the Phage Beast was forced to temporarily retreat from the intense barrage.

"Cover the retreat!"

Under Mark's direction, the team began to withdraw outside the building in an orderly and rapid fashion.

Mark issued orders over the comms: "Notify all other squads to regroup at the original location immediately. Contact The Lighthouse; prepare to return."

"Yes, sir!"

Mark stayed behind alone to hold off the Phage Beast.

His marksmanship was precise, hitting the Phage Beast's weak spots every time.

Every time the Phage Beast was hit in a vital spot, it would dodge.

The beast was massive, making it difficult for it to move inside the building, which bought the Wasteland Hunters time to retreat.

Once outside, the Wasteland Hunters and Dust Citizen laborers immediately loaded the two crates of supplies they had secured onto the vehicles, and the drivers started the engines.

Mark asked the comms officer, "Is everyone here?"

"Captain Mark, we still can't get in touch with Jing Yuan."

"Erica, Jing Yuan was in your squad. Where is he?"

Erica, piloting her gravity body, was a bit dazed when she heard this. "Didn't he go over to your side, Captain?"

Mark was also confused. "I haven't seen him!"

"I'll keep trying to contact him!"

After a moment, the comms officer finally reached Jing Yuan.

At that moment, the massive Phage Beast also burst out of the building.

Standing up, this Phage Beast was as tall as a building floor and seven or eight meters long.

It resembled a lizard-like reptile with six legs and a very long tail.

Emerging from the building along with it were many Small Devouring Extremity Beasts.

These small beasts also had a long-tailed lizard appearance, but were much smaller, roughly the size of Snake Dogs.

Mark stopped and began to take the initiative, attacking the Phage Beast with his gravity body.

The Phage Beast was agile and excelled at attacking with its tail.

Mark's attacks were so fierce that the Phage Beast was initially dazed.

How could a human be this strong?

The Phage Beast roared in fury. In an instant, all the Small Devouring Extremity Beasts sped up and began attacking the people in the convoy.

A Machine Gunner stood in a vehicle, gripping his machine gun and firing at the beasts.

He had only been firing for a few seconds when another Phage Beast suddenly jumped over his head and snatched him away.

Penny was also in this vehicle. Seeing the Machine Gunner thrown off, she took his position and gripped the machine gun to fire at the Phage Beasts.

The Small Devouring Extremity Beasts tried the same trick again, one of them leaping over Penny's head.

The beast's claws reached for Penny, and it seemed it would succeed, but then a black afterimage flew past.

A spray of blood erupted from the Phage Beast's head.

Then, a white gravity body streaked through the air, slicing the Phage Beast in half with a single blade strike.

Penny recognized it; this was Jing Yuan's gravity body.

Chapter 36: Retreat

Jing Yuan rushed back while evading the pursuit of the Snake Dogs.

He hadn't expected the situation to be this dire.

There were actually this many Phage Beasts here with the main force as well.

Seeing Penny about to be snatched by a Phage Beast, Jing Yuan first used his flying daggers to kill one beast, then slashed another with his blade.

Jing Yuan had no time to think about absorbing life source essence right now; he had to save people first.

Jing Yuan piloted his gravity body through the convoy, slaying Phage Beasts one after another.

But there were simply too many Phage Beasts.

This included the Snake Dogs that had been chasing Jing Yuan the whole way.

A huge swarm of Phage Beasts was following the entire team.

On the Wasteland Hunters' side, there were six gravity bodies including Jing Yuan's, and six machine guns.

However, facing so many Phage Beasts, they were still stretched thin.

After slaying several Phage Beasts, Jing Yuan moved directly to Mark's side.

"Captain!"

"Jing Yuan!"

Mark had no time to wonder where Jing Yuan had been; he focused solely on using his firearms to hold back the Phage Beasts.

"Captain! Give me some cover fire!"

With that, Jing Yuan charged toward the Phage Beast.

This lizard-type Phage Beast looked like a lizard and ran like one too.

One of its legs was injured, so it couldn't run fast.

Jing Yuan charged forward. The Phage Beast tried to block him with its forelimbs, but Jing Yuan nimbly circled around it.

Following Mark's method of attack, Jing Yuan slashed his blade into the Phage Beast's leg.

With both legs injured, the Phage Beast stumbled and collapsed to the ground.