A Night of Desperation-Chapter 94: Change (2)
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“Shit!” The captain slammed his fist against the outer wall of the fortress, bending over and gasping for breath.
“The front line collapsed. At least a hundred Grade-4 multi-eyed birds got in. You’re lucky to have made it back alive.”
A helpless female voice came from behind the squad.
The few remaining team members, their eyes red with grief and rage, turned to look.
The speaker was a black-haired woman in a white research coat.
She was smoking, gazing calmly at the sea where the monstrous birds had disappeared. Her features were ordinary, her figure slightly plump, with noticeable dark circles under her eyes. She looked exhausted, around forty years old, with deep crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes.
If not for her lab coat, anyone would have mistaken her for an average housewife.
“Director Yan! Why didn’t anyone warn us? Why the hell didn’t we get notified that the multi-eyed birds broke through!?” The captain charged forward, grabbed her collar, and lifted her off the ground.
“Because we couldn’t reach you. The signal interference got worse,” the woman replied calmly.
“I’d advise you to take it easy—I’ve been pulling three all-nighters to upgrade the communication system.”
The captain’s furious expression stiffened. Though his anger still boiled over the loss of his team, his grip unconsciously loosened as he set her down.
“Why!”
He punched the fortress wall.
“Why did this happen!? Four squads—four! And we’re the only ones left!”
“When the Blood Tide reaches Level 2, ordinary humans can no longer handle it. Even elite operatives like you, enhanced with localized Luminous Stone exposure, still need firearms and defensive positions to stand a chance,” Director Yan said evenly.
“From the very beginning, Blackstone’s assumption that its enhancements could counter the Blood Tide was a fundamental mistake.”
“And at Level 4, small-caliber firearms and standard explosives barely faze these creatures. They might get wounded, but they’ll regenerate quickly and come back stronger.”
“What about full-body Luminoius Stone enhancement!?” The captain clenched his teeth. “They should be able to handle it!”
“According to our latest data, a fully enhanced individual in underground trials managed to severely wound and kill a Grade-3 Blood Tide creature—but at the cost of a 3-to-1 casualty ratio,” Director Yan replied. “And it was meaningless, because Blood Tide creatures regenerate. The trials showed that at Grade-3, these entities already surpass the limits of human strength and endurance. It’s a fundamental biological limitation—our skeletal structure, our cellular resilience—this is where we max out.”
“So Grade-3 is our absolute limit!?” The captain asked, suppressing his rage.
“Stop throwing lives away. Blackstone’s tests are nothing but a waste of resources and personnel. Silver Tower figured this out long ago—at a very steep cost.” With that, Director Yan turned and walked away without looking back.
Grade-3 is the limit of human physical enhancement. Beyond that, no amount of augmentation will help.
*
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*
Afternoon.
The enhanced red-value detector displayed on the standby LCD screen: 15:03.
Inside the cave, Yu Hong put down the communicator, his heart heavy. After thinking for a moment and determining the next course of action, he stood up, walked to the wooden door, and peered outside through the observation window. R̃áꞐỘ𝐁ЁṢ
Beyond the door, in the dense forest, wisps of white mist flickered in and out of view. Compared to before, the atmosphere seemed even more dangerous and mysterious.
“It seems the red-value outside… has likely increased.”
A grave expression crossed Yu Hong’s face. What was once a safe time of day—daylight—was now turning extremely perilous. Remembering Old Li’s previous warnings, he suddenly felt relieved that he had already taken steps to reinforce the safe house. The fortification would soon be complete.
If not, dealing with future threats would have been a nightmare.
He had no idea what was happening at the Post Office, but it was no longer safe to venture out to check.
He had to—
Whoosh!!
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Suddenly, just as he was looking outside, something in the forest seemed to have noticed him through the observation window.
A gray blur burst from the mist, an arrow of death streaking toward the wooden door’s peephole.
Its speed was so fast that the sharp whistle of air being split pierced his eardrums with pain.
Yu Hong’s pupils contracted. He immediately retreated, slammed the cover shut, and dashed toward the White Bear Suit in the corner.
Boom!!
The instant he left the door, a deafening impact exploded against it.
The heavy, reinforced wooden door—strengthened multiple times—was punched through in an instant.
A gray-white spike, as thick as an adult’s forearm, pierced straight through the wooden observation window.
The tip of the spike glowed with a faint, eerie blue light, effortlessly tearing through the steel wire mesh, piercing through the wooden cover, and stabbing half a meter into the cave interior.
After confirming it had struck empty air, the spike swiftly retracted, generating a rush of wind before vanishing back into the foggy forest.
Yu Hong, now clad in the White Bear Suit, felt his heart go cold.
If he had stayed put, that single strike could have impaled his chest, killing him on the spot.
“This… this is the thing that broke through the front lines!?”
“The Joint Army is fighting against these monsters!?”
A shudder ran through him.
The Blood Tide monsters he had encountered before suddenly seemed harmless in comparison.
If Ghostly Shadows and Evil Shadows were the embodiment of terror and dread, then this gray unknown creature was overwhelming power and despair given form.
“It’s too fast… and it can fly!!”
His thoughts barely had time to form before his face changed drastically.
He raised his massive wooden shield just as—
Boom!!
Another tremendous impact rocked the wooden door.
This time, the peephole was completely obliterated.
A gray-white spike shot through—this time stabbing a full meter into the interior.
Then, as if sensing another miss, the spike swiftly withdrew, returning to the creature outside.
“This can’t continue! The door will be completely destroyed! Hiding is useless!”
Yu Hong gritted his teeth. He had to act now!
With a decisive movement, he rushed forward, wrenched the door open, and charged out.
Shield raised.
“DIE!!”
With a furious roar, he sprinted at full speed and leaped forward—a black armored juggernaut, barreling straight toward the unknown gray monster outside the door.
If this was a Blood Tide creature or some sort of mutant beast, then it should still adhere to basic biological instincts.
Against wild animals, one must dominate with sheer force—make it understand that a fight would only result in pain, forcing it to retreat.
As soon as he stepped outside, Yu Hong got a full view of the gray monster—
It was a hairless, grotesque bird with two rows of red, beady eyes.
Its entire body was gray-white. Despite having no feathers, it had still moved at that terrifying speed.
Under its translucent skin, countless writhing lumps pulsed and shifted—something was moving rapidly inside its flesh.
The moment it spotted Yu Hong rushing out, it let out a deep, toad-like roar, then smashed a wing downward—straight toward Yu Hong’s massive wooden shield.
The creature stood over a meter tall, with an elongated body and a four-meter wingspan. As its wing sliced through the air, it emitted a shrill whistle—as if a razor-sharp blade was cutting through the atmosphere.
Yu Hong’s muscles bulged, veins popped across his face, and with a furious bellow, he charged forward.
“AAAHHHHHH!!”
Boom!!
The wooden shield buckled inward.
The bird’s wing and Yu Hong’s alloy-reinforced White Bear Suit collided head-on—neither yielding an inch.
“FUCK YOU!!”
Yu Hong’s other hand swung his spiked club with all his might.
The black, iron-studded club, backed by his superhuman strength, howled through the air and smashed into the monster’s neck.
At the same time, the creature’s other wing slashed at Yu Hong’s left shoulder.
Both sides had the same idea—a simultaneous surprise attack.
Boom! Boom!
Two dull impacts rang out at the same time.
Both Yu Hong and the monster were sent flying from the force of their strikes.
Yu Hong rolled several meters, crashing into a stone wall before coming to a stop.
The monster’s neck twisted at an unnatural angle as it tumbled past the wall, landing in the grass and rolling a few times.
Both struggled to get back up.
“DIE!!!”
Yu Hong hurled his spiked club at the monster with all his strength.
At the same time, he drew his reinforced handgun from his back and fired a barrage of bullets.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each shot exploded from the barrel, leaving behind tiny rings of white smoke.
The high-powered bullets, moving at twice the speed of sound, ripped through the air.
Four shots—two hit their mark, exploding into gray-white blood splatters the size of fists.
“SKREEEE!!”
The monster shrieked in pain, flapped its wings, and fled into the foggy forest.
Its blood, dripping as it escaped, corroded the grass beneath, leaving behind blackened holes.
“Shit!”
Yu Hong panted heavily, standing his ground, calming his overexerted body.
He had gone all out—even burning his internal energy in that fight.
And even then, he had only barely overpowered the creature.
His brief sense of confidence after his recent breakthrough was utterly shattered.
“Too weak!!”
“I’M TOO FUCKING WEAK!!”
He punched the stone wall beside him in frustration—dust scattering, a shallow dent left behind.
“If just one of those things gave me this much trouble… what if there were two!? Would I be torn apart!?”
As frustration burned in his chest, a distant explosion from the Post Office caught his attention.
Old Li…?!
If he had the strength, he’d rush over to help—but his body was aching, and his energy drained.
Gritting his teeth, he glanced at Qiu Yanxi and her daughter, confirming their safety before retreating back into the damaged cave to check his injuries.
