Chapter Eight: Who Are They?

Sector C, Qulin Commercial Street.

"Rumble!"

"Monsters..."

"Why are there fierce beasts inside the city..."

"Ah, save me..."

Shops on both sides of the street collapsed, towering buildings were destroyed, and the ground was reduced to a shattered and desolate mess. Crows of terrified people fleeing in panic and their desperate screams became the only sights and sounds remaining in the scene. Prowling and pursuing them from behind, the one-eyed wolf beasts opened their jaws wide, shreds of clothing snagged on their razor-sharp teeth. Regardless of whether they were men, women, old, or young, all became food within their jaws...

The bustling commercial street of just an hour ago was now utterly ruined. Severed limbs and fresh, crimson blood stained the earth.

Soon, a large army arrived. Roaring in fury, they raised their firearms and weapons to surround and slaughter the beasts. Massive super-tanks, sulfur-gun missiles, and energy beam cannons blasted forth. While killing ordinary fierce beasts, these weapons left the city in an even more wretched state, tearing open the ground and collapsing high-rises. Starting from Qulin Commercial Street, the destruction rapidly spread throughout the entirety of Sector C!

"Clatter, clatter!" At that moment, a squad of mecha warriors finally arrived. Seeing the wolf beasts running amok across Sector C, the dozen or so soldiers split into two groups. Nine of them directly drew their mecha equipment and angrily charged into battle. The other nine pushed through Sector C, speeding onward.

"Xiao Qi, bombard!" Among the remaining nine, a youth with short yellow hair shouted orders.

As his voice fell, a young female soldier at the rear of the squad stepped off the rubble, vaulted onto a shop rooftop, drew a meter-long heavy sniper rifle from her space ring, and pulled the trigger.

"Boom!" A bowl-thick blue energy beam blasted out, directly blowing dozens of ordinary wolf beasts fifty meters ahead into dust. As the blinding light subsided, they vanished into a gaping crater several meters wide.

"Let's go!" The short yellow-haired youth led his remaining five teammates to charge into the oncoming pack of beasts.

Meanwhile, the girl named Xiao Qi and two other youths positioned themselves at the rear, taking turns to draw sniper cannons and sniper rifles to clear out large areas of ordinary beasts.

Before long, the one-eyed wolf beasts—which had left the regular army completely helpless—were thoroughly wiped out. Just as the nine of them prepared to move on to the next battlefield, a tier-one, three-meter-long one-eyed wolf beast suddenly lunged out from a tall building. Upon seeing its annihilated companions, the beast raised its head and roared ferociously into the sky, as if summoning reinforcements.

"Tier One!" The short yellow-haired youth's expression shifted slightly before he shouted, "Destroy it together, and let's go support the other streets!"

With that, the youth took the lead, raised the large blue sword in his hand, leaped into the air, and slashed downward at the tier-one one-eyed wolf beast ahead! "Azure Moon Slash!"

The other five were unwilling to fall behind, successively releasing their skills to encircle and attack the wolf beast.

"Roar, roar!" The tier-one one-eyed wolf beast stood completely motionless as six attacks of varying colors approached, continuing to rear its head and howl.

The next instant, the tier-one wolf beast was blasted apart by the mecha skills, reduced to shredded meat. The stench of blood drifted over, causing the group to unconsciously wrinkle their noses. Just as the yellow-haired youth prepared to lead the eight others away, Xiao Qi and the two other youths standing atop the building behind cried out in shock: "Kong, it's bad! Over a dozen more one-eyed wolf beasts are rushing in from all directions!"

The short yellow-haired youth found it strange. A dozen ordinary wolf beasts could simply be wiped out again; was there any need to make such a fuss?

"Kong... they are all tier-one one-eyed wolf beasts!"

"What? Tier-one!" Kong's expression instantly changed, and he quickly issued an order: "Fall back toward Sector B at top speed!"

The nine of them hurriedly turned and retreated toward Sector B. Unfortunately, the dozen ferocious wolves had already arrived. With their exceptional speed, they quickly surrounded the nine people in a tight circle!

"Damn it, that one-eyed wolf beast was calling for backup!" Only then did they realize the truth, finally understanding why that howl had felt so bizarre!

"Kong, what do we do? We're surrounded by thirteen tier-one wolf beasts!" other teammates asked anxiously.

"Break out! Are we supposed to be afraid of a bunch of beasts?!" The stockiest, crew-cut youth in the squad held a giant shield in one hand and a massive axe in the other, taking the lead to charge at the nearest wolf beast.

"Keep up with Mobei! Break through together!" Kong was extremely decisive. Seeing no possibility of escape, he immediately ordered a breakout.

Mobei, the muscular youth, charged at the very forefront. Instantly, the giant shield in his hand blazed with a bright blue light as he slammed it fiercely into the ground and roared, "Earth Split!"

"Bang!" The moment the giant shield struck the ground, three pitch-black fissures shot rapidly forward from his position toward the three tier-one wolf beasts, tunneling underground. The instant they reached their targets, three sharp, earthen rock pillars over three meters high erupted from the dark fissures, thrusting upward to pierce the underbellies of the wolf beasts.

Although the three one-eyed wolf beasts reacted quickly, leaping upward the moment they sensed the rock pillars rising, their bellies were still sliced open. Fresh blood gushed out in continuous streams, and they let out miserable, agonizing screeches.

Seeing a gap opened, the nine of them felt a surge of joy and rushed forward to seize the opportunity.

Right at that moment, the remaining wolf beasts flew into a blood-frenzied rage and lunged forward all at once. Combined with the three injured wolves, which attacked with extreme ferocity despite their wounds, the nine people were instantly plunged into the crisis of a full-scale siege.

Kong and the other five, who specialized in strength and speed, were still managing, but Xiao Qi and the two youths—whose neural reflex speeds were unsuited for chaotic close-quarters combat—found themselves in deep trouble, especially since their heavy sniper rifles were still on cool-down. Their situation instantly grew perilous.

"Damn it, why are there so many tier-one beasts?!" Kong cursed angrily, cleaving a one-eyed wolf beast in two with a single sword stroke. Just as he prepared to follow up with a lethal blow, the pretty girl named Xiao Qi was bitten on the right arm by a wolf beast that lunged from the side. Amidst a piercing shriek, the sniper rifle slipped from her hands, and her entire right arm was instantly drenched in blood!

"Xiao Qi!" Kong hurried to her side, shouting with deep concern.

The girl's face turned pale, her pretty eyebrows trembling from the pain, but she gritted her teeth and stubbornly said, "I... I'm fine!"

The two firearm-wielding youths fared no better, their bodies marred by numerous bloody gashes. Had it not been for the help of nearby teammates, they would have long since become food in the mouths of the wolf beasts.

"Kong, what do we do?!"

Soon, the other teammates began sustaining injuries one after another. Tier-one fierce beasts were already not inferior to them in combat power, and facing a dozen of them, falling into such a desperate predicament was only natural.

"What do we do?" Kong's expression turned grim and furious. A single misstep now could mean the annihilation of all nine of them. As he fought back while racking his brain for a solution, a wolf beast actually lunged to tear into Xiao Qi, who was crouched on the ground!

"Xiao Qi!"

The other five, including Kong, were entangled by the surrounding wolf beasts, while the two injured youths were swaying on their feet and barely able to stand—how could they possibly have the strength to rescue the girl?

At that critical moment of extreme peril, nine pale-blue arrows suddenly streaked through the air. Descending like shooting stars, they landed all around Xiao Qi, forming an impenetrable barrier that shielded her!

Immediately following, a yellow energy cannon blast roared through the air, directly blowing that tier-one wolf beast away. It crashed heavily to the ground five meters away, covered in blood.

"Reinforcements?!" The group of nine looked at the three figures flying toward them from a hundred meters away, a wave of sudden elation washing over them like a light of hope in the apocalypse.

"Dome Fist!"

The black-haired youth leading the group was the first to leap from the ground. His right arm, encased in a glowing golden fist gauntlet, shone brilliantly as he soared high into the air. Then, with the devastating momentum of a falling meteorite, he smashed downward, directly pulverizing the blasted tier-one wolf beast into a mist of blood!

"So strong!" Before Kong and the nine others could react, the black-haired youth leaped again. Yellow cubes poured continuously from his space ring, converging, intertwining, and taking shape! Finally, they formed a triangular shield in his left hand. With a fierce roar, he shouted, "Shockwave!"

He hurled the shield out, slamming it into the ground beside the two injured youths. The earth violently trembled, and three surrounding wolf beasts were blasted backward.

"Hiss, hiss!"

Converging, intertwining, forming shape! S-FYSB11-98 Model-S Heavy Sniper Rifle!

"Boom!" The youth braced the meter-long heavy sniper rifle with both hands, and with a single shot, he directly blasted the three airborne wolf beasts—which hadn't even hit the ground yet—into pieces, vanishing within a ten-meter radius of red energy light!

"Gulp... Just how many... how many sets of mecha gear is that?!" The nine of them swallowed hard in unison, watching in utter shock as the youth put away his sniper rifle and drew a purple longsword instead.

At that moment, the two girls in the rear also arrived. The single-ponytail girl nocked an arrow and drew her bow, calling out softly, "Ninefold Ice-Soul Execution!"

Instantly, another nine pale-blue arrows, nearly a meter long, shot forth as if imbued with life, pursuing different wolf beasts with relentless speed.

"Lightning Pierce!" The other girl wielded a purple spear, its tip wreathed in a five-meter-long illusory projection of the spearhead. Just as the nine tier-one wolf beasts were blasted into the air and injured by the arrows, the spear projection pierced through the space, consecutively and cleanly piercing straight through the skulls of the wolf beasts.

Just like that, the dozen tier-one wolf beasts that had nearly slaughtered the nine of them were casually and effortlessly butchered by the three newcomers.

"Angel, Kexin, let's go. That little girl Shangguan Yueying just sent out a distress signal, and I don't know how she's doing right now!"

After saying this, the black-haired youth immediately departed with the two girls, vanishing into the street ahead in the blink of an eye...

A full two minutes passed before the nine of them finally snapped out of their daze. Staring at the direction where the three had disappeared, they stammered, "Who... who were they...?"

***