Under Zhong Ling's control, the remaining 'ghastly soldiers' dispersed, with two at the front paving the way for Sun Hang, while the rest moved on the outer edges of the group, forming a defensive circle ready to react instantly in case of a surprise attack.

Sun Hang observed the two ghastly entities about ten meters ahead. The one on the left barely retained a human shape, while the one on the right was entirely a large mass of moving flesh. Beneath its pale skin, blue and purple veins crisscrossed, and each step caused the layers of sagging folds to sway slightly. The folds dragged along the ground behind its ankles had already worn and torn, with a mixture of pus, rot, and degraded fat oozing slowly from the wounds, leaving a damp track on the floor.

A not-so-pleasant smell lingered in the air.

The most frustrating thing for Sun Hang was that the 'anti-gravity' effect targeted only the four of them, along with these ghastly beings, but did not include this plump ghoul's excretions. This meant that small quantities would be absorbed by the ground, but once the amount increased, under the force of gravity, it would gather into a droplet, then trickle downwards.

In their perspective, it was as if the liquid on the ground gathered and suddenly launched vertically skyward, breaking through the liquid surface tension's threshold.

Sun Hang had narrowly avoided contact with these liquid droplets several times, the closest one nearly grazing the tip of his nose, and the smell... it simply needed no further description.

Sun Hang was puzzled as to why Dubhe Tower equipped Zhong Ling with such a 'ghoul armor'. Was it due to a shortage in the quantity and quality of ghouls, or did this particular ghoul possess some unique quality?

But this mass of flabby flesh didn't seem to possess strong defenses. Although its strength attributes shouldn't be low, power alone wasn't enough without sufficient agility attributes to support it.

This creature looked like a sumo wrestler, but its opponents wouldn't be other sumo wrestlers, nor would ghouls stand in a drawn circle and foolishly compare pure strength with it.

"If this ghoul gets blasted, will it burst open with fluid?" Sun Hang mused inwardly, feeling that his position seemed somewhat dangerous—if this ghoul really exploded, the mere scent would make one vomit up dinner from the previous night, and this liquid would likely splatter all over.

He was mentally prepared, ready to create a liquid metal shield the moment this ghoul was attacked, covering both him and Zhong Ling behind him.

Just as Sun Hang was about to ask Zhong Ling about the special ability of this plump ghoul, the searchlight suddenly illuminated a crooked stone tablet by the roadside.

This stone was about two meters tall, made of a material simulating granite patterns. On the front, crooked carvings appeared like text metamorphed by AI, vaguely recognizable as the former official language of the Former Siberia Federation, Russian.

The grooves of the text were filled with a bright, dripping red paint, resembling animal blood.

The top of the stone featured a triangular design, with a similarly blood-drenched red star at its tip, surrounded by a circle of rusty copper wheat decorations.

"This stone..." Yan Yu'an's tone was slightly excited, "This is the entrance to the National Hero Cemetery!"

"Are you sure?" Sun Hang turned to look at her. Despite this result being expected, necessary confirmation was still important.

"Look." Yan Yu'an quickly sent Sun Hang a photo, which showed an almost identical stone, except the text on this stone was in standard Russian and Chinese, vividly displaying "Siberian Federation National Hero Cemetery."

The group passed the stone and continued forward, the buildings on either side of the street becoming increasingly sparse, and the asphalt road beneath turning into a stone pavement made of palm-sized blue bricks.

After walking a short distance, steps would appear, with the ground's inclined angle around them proving they were walking 'uphill.'

"The National Hero Cemetery at the outskirts of Lake Baikal City is built on a hill, with a relative elevation between 80 and 100 meters from the city's height. The 35-meter-tall hero monument stands at the hill's summit, with a burial area for cremains behind the monument."

"I see it." Sun Hang nodded.

In the light's glow, they just about made out a monument standing on the high ground, albeit with several human-like figures clinging to the monument—though both the monument and these figures were a silhouette, making detail discernment difficult.

"Are there photos of this monument?" Sun Hang asked Yan Yu'an.

"Yes... this monument doesn't quite look right, best to be cautious." Yan Yu'an also seemed to notice the figures resembling 'extraneous growths,' whispering a reminder.

Sun Hang glanced at the photo she sent. The main monument at the National Hero Cemetery was a clean rectangle stone column, with only some carved decorations at the extremities. Its main body had no unnecessary embellishments, and in the photo, sunlight cast from behind the monument left a clean, definitive shadow on the ground, unlike any figures clinging to it.

An audacious idea suddenly struck Sun Hang: "The 'impurities' of the Baikal Remains... could they be these figures adhering to the monument?"

"Mr. Yan, lend me your gun," Sun Hang said.

Yan Yu'an was slightly taken aback but handed Sun Hang her weapon. She wanted to remind him that the gun was designed specifically for the Willow Leaf Saber armor, and without powered armor or a mechanical exoskeleton, a regular person couldn't handle its recoil—but then she reconsidered, Sun Hang surely wasn't ordinary...

With his strength, twisting this gun into a metal pretzel would be a breeze, let alone the so-called recoil.

Sun Hang took the gun, raised the muzzle, and aimed at one of the figures on the monument—the figure had a deeply arched back like a hunchback, its head pressed firmly against the monument's body, with most of the face 'melted' into the stone.

Its limbs almost blended fully into the monument, leaving only the joints of knees and elbows discernible, while hands and feet, forearms and calves were entirely one with the monument.

"Are you planning to snipe those figures?" Wang Xiyi asked.

"Yeah." Sun Hang replied as he pulled the trigger.

"Bang!" The gunshot echoed through the subterranean cemetery, and the bullet flew over the nearly hundred-meter distance instantly, penetrating the figure.

A hole the size of a bowl appeared in the figure's back, piercing through it, but no other changes occurred.

The monument still stood there, and the figures remained motionless—whether it was the one hit or others clinging to the monument.

"Playing dead now, huh?" Sun Hang's expression was nuanced as he handed the gun back to Yan Yu'an, then slowly approached the monument.