Roken was startled awake, scrambling to grab the rifle from the ground and followed Kael as they plunged into the dark entrance of the metro station.

Fang Cheng still stood on the load-bearing pillar.

His deep gaze bypassed the frenzied surge of the black tide, aiming at the back of the beast army.

At the distant horizon, an eerie darkness that seemed to swallow even light was writhing forward like a living creature.

Even from afar, Fang Cheng felt a chill of instinctive fear in his heart.

"What kind of thing could scare these bloodthirsty monsters like this?"

Before he could ponder further, a violent gust slammed into him.

Carrying an extremely pungent scent of blood and stench.

The concrete beneath Fang Cheng’s feet trembled with a shuddering frequency that made his teeth ache.

Pebbles streamed down along the pillar.

The vanguard of the beast tide had already plunged into the district.

Under the dim light, Fang Cheng saw the scene below clearly.

Countless mutant beasts seemed to have lost all sense.

They crowded the narrow ruined streets like a mudslide, rampaging recklessly.

Smaller, slower beasts were slammed into broken walls by the massive creatures behind them before they could evade.

Then trampled into mixtures of flesh and dirt by countless hooves and claws.

Whoosh——

Above, a piercing sound of air turbulence suddenly arose.

A few featherless monstrous birds with wings spread three meters wide skimmed through the low sky.

One, avoiding its peers, suddenly flapped its wings and changed direction.

Its scarlet eyes locked instantly on Fang Cheng atop the pillar.

It opened its beak lined with barbs and dove like a heavy glider towards Fang Cheng.

Fang Cheng didn’t even blink.

He tapped the edge of the pillar with his toes, and his waist muscles abruptly exerted force.

The entire body completed a physics-defying mid-air twist under double gravity.

His right leg, like a swung steel whip, snapped precisely at the jawbone of the monstrous bird from below.

Bang!

A mist of shattered bones and innards exploded in the air.

The monstrous bird’s head vanished instantly.

The headless corpse spun away, crashing down into the beast horde below, swallowed up in an instant.

Almost at the moment the blood mist exploded.

"Roar——"

A gray-brown giant lizard over five meters long was squeezed off the main path by the madly rushing beast horde behind.

It crashed frantically through the remnants of a low wall, heading straight for Fang Cheng’s pillar.

Boom——

The giant lizard slammed heavily into the base of the pillar.

The half-meter diameter solid concrete column emitted a muffled explosion under the tons of impact force.

Large chunks of rubble peeled off with a clatter, several twisted rebars inside snapped.

The entire pillar groaned, beginning to incline violently to one side.

Fang Cheng lowered his gaze, looking at the massive beast horde pouring into the streets, choosing not to remain and resist.

He slightly bent his knees, his thigh muscles instantly tensed.

Just before the pillar completely collapsed, he launched diagonally like a cannonball.

Whoosh——

The wind roared past his ears.

Fang Cheng stretched his limbs in mid-air, spanning a distance of nearly thirty meters.

Then landed steadily on the second floor of a commercial ruin with only half its framework remaining.

Crunch.

His feet smashed the disintegrated tiles on the ground, dissipating the impact of the fall.

Standing firm, Fang Cheng looked back.

Through the chaotic beast tide below, he suddenly caught sight of an abnormality.

At the sunken corner of the metro entrance, a few dark shadows were swiftly slipping along the wall toward the bottom.

These were four mutant crawling beasts shaped like crocodiles, covered in blue tumors.

They hadn’t joined the fleeing herd, seeming intent on hiding in the metro station, trying to blend in, or perhaps drawn by some scent inside.

Fang Cheng’s gaze flickered.

The four-member Hunter Squad had escaped into this entrance.

"Is this a case of catching fish in a flooded field...?"

Fang Cheng shook his head slightly, flicked up a rusty steel pipe from the ground with his toes, holding it in hand.

Then leapt from the second floor’s gap, like a weightless shadow, quietly blending into the darkness.

..................

The metro station B1 level, ticket hall.

There wasn’t a sliver of light here, utterly dark.

Overhead, the concrete ceiling occasionally emitted ominous rumblings.

That was the chaos of countless mutant beasts on the surface.

Fine sand and gravel slipped down the cracks of the load-bearing wall, falling onto the scraps of iron.

Any slight noise was infinitely amplified in the dead underground space.

"Huff... huff..."

Kael leaned his back against the wreck of a collapsed security scanner, gasping for air.

He tore off the filter canister of his gas mask, replaced it with a spare, which clicked crisply.

Ira slumped weakly on the ground, her face pale.

Although the blood in her nose had stopped, the telekinesis had drained her, leaving her with no strength to stand.

Roken held his rifle, staring intensely at the dark passage they had escaped into, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

Pike curled up in the corner, clutching the rusty bone-cutting knife, his body trembling like a sieve.

"Uncle... are we... are we safe?"

The child’s teeth were chattering, the voice coming through the mask, tinged with a clear sob.

Having survived in the wasteland world for over a decade, he had never seen such a terrifying spectacle, so many beasts.

"It’s okay..."

Kael tightened the double-barreled shotgun in his hand, about to speak for reassurance.

Shsh... shsh...

From the direction of the passage entrance, a faint sound suddenly emerged.

It sounded like some kind of paw pads slowly rubbing against the rough tiles.

Immediately following were several chilling, low sniffs.

Roken’s breath momentarily stopped.

He swallowed hard, his thumb trembling, and turned on the tactical flashlight under the gun barrel.

The pale beam suddenly tore through the darkness ahead.

At the corridor corner less than twenty meters away, four mutant crawling beasts covered in blue tumors were lying on the ground.

Under the flashlight, their pale green vertical pupils reflected a greedy, bloodthirsty glow.

They had caught the scent of humans, and the fresh blood that dripped from Ira.

"Damn!"

Roken’s scalp tingled, almost instinctively pulling the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In the narrow underground space, gunfire was deafening.

Bullets hit the scales of the crawling beasts, sparking a series of fiery sprinkles, leaving only shallow white marks.

These creatures’ defensive power far surpassed the low-level land beasts.

"Spread out! Attack their belly when you have the chance, that’s the fatal spot."

Kael roared in anger, raising his shotgun and charging forward.

But the crawling beasts were too fast.

Their hind legs suddenly powered up, like two blue lightning bolts, covering twenty meters in an instant.

One directly knocked Roken over.

The sharp claws instantly tore through the radiation suit, scratching the shoulder.

Roken let out a scream, barely blocking with his rifle, then being flung aside with it.

Another headed straight for Kael’s muzzle.

Boom!

Kael pulled the trigger, the ferocious pellets striking the beast’s side abdomen, tearing open a large portion of tumors.

Yet the beast did not retreat; instead, it used the momentum to ram into Kael’s chest.

Kael’s huge body was flung backward, heavily hitting the wreck of the security scanner, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.

The double-barreled shotgun fell to the ground.

The crawling beast’s spiked tongue lashed out, foul saliva dripping onto Kael’s gas mask.

Its gaping maw, capable of crushing iron plates, aimed right at Kael’s head.

Ira saw this, wanting to forcefully channel telekinesis.

Yet a ripping pain pierced her brain, darkening her vision, causing her to completely collapse.

"Uncle!"

From the corner, Pike shut his eyes, despairingly exclaimed.

Foul saliva dripped onto the mask.

Kael stared dead at the abyss mouth drawing ever closer, hands futilely trying to block.

In this wasteland world, without weapons, a human body looked as fragile as a piece of tofu before these mutant beasts.

"It’s finally over..."

Facing death, Kael’s tense muscles relaxed instead.

Fear left his mind, replaced by thoughts of complete release.

Then, at this critical moment.

Whoosh—

From the dark depths, a sharp hiss of airflow suddenly exploded.

It wasn’t gunfire.

It was something slicing through the air at terrifying speed, emitting a sonic boom.

Kael couldn’t see what it was.

He simply felt a fierce wind rush overhead, making the mask glass creak.

Then, the crawling beast pinning him suddenly disappeared.