Northwest of Defense Line 03.
Exhaustion was etched onto Lin Mo’s face as he emerged from the woods, his eyes scanning the distant ruins with sharp alertness.
Throughout his journey, he had already engaged in no fewer than twenty battles.
Defense Line 02 had fallen two nights ago.
Defense Line 03, despite being heavily fortified, had suffered frequent errors due to a loss of contact with the forward command headquarters and failing logistics.
It had officially collapsed yesterday afternoon.
What was more unsettling was that the behavior of the Shi Bian Ti had undergone a fundamental change.
They no longer gathered based on instinct and numerical superiority, aimlessly advancing and devouring everything in their path, as previous records and his own memories suggested.
Now, they seemed to possess a crude but effective military intelligence.
They launched attacks in organized batches and formations, with a rudimentary level of coordination between different types.
Their offensive was clearly directed toward Beihai—a satellite town of the Provincial Capital in the Province of Nanwan.
Lin Mo had encountered several waves of retreating soldiers.
Almost every face he helped or guided was a mask of confusion and despair.
They only knew that a catastrophe had occurred.
The 103rd Division had been defeated, and the defeat had been both swift and brutal.
Beihai would likely not hold out for more than a few days.
As for why they lost?
Why had the Shi Bian Ti suddenly become so organized?
Where was the high-level command?
Why had the logistics system paralyzed?
No soldier delved deep into these questions.
Or rather, they had been crushed by the successive blows and the immense pressure of survival, losing the capacity to think.
Even more bizarrely, Lin Mo noticed that even the junior officers and the few surviving field officers rarely questioned the reasons for the failure.
They seemed to accept it as a pure military defeat, caused by an enemy that was too strong and a lack of support on their side.
This was too strange.
For the battle situation to collapse to this extent, for the command structure to be nearly paralyzed, and for the behavior of the Shi Bian Ti to change so drastically… any experienced commander should have sensed the scent of a conspiracy or a major upheaval.
Yet, until now, Lin Mo had not heard a single person mention suspicions like ‘there’s a traitor inside,’ ‘communications were targeted for destruction,’ or ‘the high-level leadership might have defected.’
It was as if an invisible force, or a collective cognitive blind spot, prevented them from thinking in that direction.
He shook his head, momentarily suppressing this growing suspicion.
His immediate priority was to cross the ruins ahead and reach the site of the former forward command headquarters, where clues might remain.
He tightened his grip on the silenced submachine gun.
The cool touch of the metal gave his spirit a slight boost.
He only had one magazine left; he had to use it sparingly.
He slipped into the ruins like a shadow, silent and swift.
His footsteps were light, carefully avoiding rubble and metal shards.
His gaze scanned every corner where danger might hide, moving like a digital scanner.
Broken windows, half-collapsed doorways, piles of debris… the light inside the ruins was dim, and the silence was terrifying.
Only the sound of his own breathing and heartbeat echoed in his ears.
Just as he crossed a relatively open alleyway flanked by crumbling walls, nearing a safe cover at the other end…
From the shadows of a seemingly stable brick pile on the left, a dark red figure burst out with speed far exceeding that of a normal Abnormal Being!
It was a high-level Shi Bian Ti!
It had perfectly suppressed its aura of contamination, lurking there in silence.
Its physique was leaner and more powerful than an ordinary Abnormal Being.
Its muscles bulged in streamlined curves, covered by a dark red, almost black, chitinous layer.
Sharp bone spurs protruded from its joints.
Most terrifying of all was its head—its facial features had almost completely regressed, leaving only a massive mouth filled with spiral-shaped sharp teeth that split almost to its ears.
On its forehead, three compound eyes flickered with a cold, red light.
The ambush was too fast and too sudden!
Lin Mo could only rely on his honed combat instincts.
He swung the submachine gun to his side as a block while throwing himself into a desperate roll to the right.
Screech—!
The claw, sharp as a bone blade, scraped against the body of the submachine gun, sending sparks flying.
However, its momentum remained.
It viciously tore through the combat suit and flesh on the outer side of Lin Mo’s left arm.
Blood spurted instantly, followed by a surge of sharp pain.
Lin Mo groaned, using the momentum to retreat rapidly while his right index finger pulled the trigger.
Thud, thud, thud, thud—!
The low, muffled shots of the suppressed submachine gun echoed in the narrow alley as a hail of bullets flew toward the charging red shadow.
The high-level Abnormal Being displayed incredible agility and combat intelligence.
It did not take the hits head-on.
Instead, in a manner that defied physics, it used the walls, ground, and even the ceiling to perform high-speed leaps.
Most of the bullets hit empty air or the afterimages it left behind.
The few that struck were either deflected by its hard chitin or had their impact significantly weakened.
The magazine was empty in an instant.
Lin Mo did not hesitate to discard the gun—the slide was locked back, and the weapon was now useless.
Enduring the agonizing pain in his left arm, he quickly reached for his waist and pulled a fragmentation grenade.
He yanked the pin with his teeth, waited for a one-second delay, calculated the trajectory of the monster’s next pounce, and threw it with all his might!
The grenade traced an arc through the air.
The Shi Bian Ti seemed to sense the threat.
Its forward momentum stopped abruptly as it lunged to the side.
Boom—!
The flames and shockwave of the explosion ravaged the alleyway, sending shrapnel and rubble flying in all directions.
Through the swirling dust, Lin Mo saw the creature stumble from the blast.
Several wounds had opened on its body, leaking thick, dark green blood.
However, it was clearly not dead.
Instead, it was thoroughly enraged, letting out a hoarse, piercing roar.
‘Now!’
A cold light flashed in Lin Mo’s eyes.
He no longer hesitated.
The small amount of Oracle power remaining in his body erupted!
A grim white frost spread rapidly from his position, and the moisture in the air instantly condensed into tiny ice crystals.
He pushed off with his legs, the ground beneath him cracking as a layer of thin ice covered it.
He shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, charging toward the red shadow in the dust.
His right hand held his weapon in a reverse grip.
The blood-stained triangular military spike slid from the sheath on his leg into his palm, its blade instantly coated in a layer of biting frost.
The high-level Abnormal Being had just regained its footing from the explosion when it saw Lin Mo lunging at it.
The red light in its three eyes intensified.
It didn’t dodge.
It crossed its bone claws and swung them down with a whistle that tore the air!
It intended to trade a wound for a life, or perhaps crush this human who dared to engage in close combat using its superior physical strength.
However, Lin Mo’s killing techniques had been forged on the edge of countless life-and-death encounters.
Facing the fierce strike, he performed a subtle, perfect sidestep while moving at top speed.
Like a fish darting through water, he grazed the edge of the bone claws and cut into the creature’s guard.
The cold spike transformed into a flash of light, like a viper’s tongue, stabbing with absolute precision into a spot between the Shi Bian Ti’s chest and abdomen where the chitin was relatively thin!
The Abnormal Being reacted with lightning speed, contracting its core while its other claw swung back to tear into the back of Lin Mo’s heart.
Squish!
The spike entered the flesh with a grating sound, but it was stopped after only an inch, caught by the creature’s tough muscles and bone.
Meanwhile, the lethal claw from behind was about to strike!
In that split second, Lin Mo let go of the handle.
Using his forward momentum and the resistance of the creature’s muscles, he performed an incredible ducking spin.
He not only avoided the heart-piercing blow but also pressed himself against the monster’s vulnerable side.
His left hand, wrapped in Oracle power, straightened its fingers like a blade and stabbed fiercely into a pulsing, vein-like protrusion on the side of the creature’s neck!
Squelch!
The freezing power at his fingertips erupted, piercing in like an icicle!
“Roar—!!!”
The Abnormal Being let out a scream of agony, its movements suddenly stiffening.
Lin Mo would not waste this opportunity, bought with his own injuries and a risky gamble.
His right hand reached out again.
He didn’t try to pull the stuck spike.
Instead, he grabbed the exposed triangular blade of the spike itself!
His palm was instantly sliced open by the edge, blood flowing freely, but he didn’t care.
He poured all his strength and the remaining frost of his Oracle power into a single grip and twist!
“Break… open!”
He let out a low growl, the muscles in his arms bulging.
Holding the blade, he pressed down and twisted with a violent wrench!
Crack… squelch!
The agonizing sound of shattering bone and tearing flesh rang out!
The deeply embedded triangular spike, under his ruthless force, churned within the Shi Bian Ti’s body, widening the wound!
The high-level Abnormal Being struggled frantically, its claws swinging wildly and adding several more bloody gashes to Lin Mo’s body.
However, its strength was rapidly fading along with its life and energy.
Finally, the three crimson compound eyes gradually dimmed.
Its massive, twisted body crashed to the ground, twitching a few times before it stopped moving altogether.
Lin Mo panted as he took two steps back.
He let go of the blade, his right hand soaked in his own blood and the foul gore of the monster.
He watched the corpse slowly being covered by frost, and only after confirming it was completely dead did he slowly exhale a breath of cold white mist.
The new wounds on his left arm and body burned with pain.
His stamina was spent, and his Oracle power was nearly bone-dry.
He sat down against a broken wall, took out bandages and disinfectant from his emergency kit, and gritted his teeth as he treated the deepest wound on his left arm.
During the disinfection, the intense stinging caused the veins on his forehead to throb.
As he bandaged himself, he couldn’t help but feel that he still hadn’t fully adapted to this body.
His reaction speed, power transmission, and fine control over the Oracle power… none of it compared to his original, battle-hardened shell.
If they were outside the Dead Realm, with his strength at its peak, a high-level Shi Bian Ti of this grade would never have been able to wound him, let alone force him into such a desperate and messy fight.
Thinking of this, Lin Mo sighed softly.
A wave of exhaustion seeped out from the marrow of his bones.
It had been days since he entered the Dead Realm.
He had experienced so many battles and traveled so much, yet he hadn’t seen a single trace of the other two rescue teams.
Even his own companions from the First Rescue Team, Gao Yuan and Du Qiang… he hadn’t bumped into either of them.
‘Was there an unexpected change outside after I was pulled in, causing them to be unable to enter? Or did they enter and get scattered elsewhere?’
‘What is the situation like outside now?’
Gu Qiancheng and Zhao Dongyuan should be able to handle things out there.
With the headquarters sending the Night General Squad and the 23rd Squad to Beihai as reinforcements, nothing should go wrong.
And then there was… Senior.
Thinking of Chu You, whom he hadn’t seen in days, and the somewhat rogue kiss before they parted, Lin Mo’s heart stirred.
‘Would she be unable to resist entering the Dead Realm?’
‘If Senior entered, with her powers of observation, she would definitely find the special bandage knot I left for Luo Yong—the one only the two of us know.’
After only a moment of contemplation, Lin Mo set the thought aside and turned to other matters.
It wasn’t for any other reason than the fact that the probability was simply too low.
Lin Mo couldn’t imagine any situation where Gu Qiancheng would agree to let Chu You in.
That guy might look unreliable when he worked, but he knew what was important when it mattered, especially with the always-cautious Zhao Dongyuan watching over him.
Rather than thinking about that, it was better to hope that some members of the rescue team had reached the forward command headquarters.
He finished bandaging his arm, stopping the bleeding.
Lin Mo forced himself to stay focused and began checking his remaining supplies.
The situation was not optimistic.
His rations would last one more day at most.
His canteen was empty, and there was almost no purified water left.
He was out of submachine gun magazines, and he only had two pistol magazines remaining.
Worst of all, his last few grenades had been used up in the recent fight.
He was virtually at the end of his resources, and he was injured.
Even another high-level Shi Bian Ti—no, even a group of mid-to-low-level ones—would be enough to threaten his life.
Lin Mo frowned deeply.
But soon, his expression softened slightly.
The situation was bad, but it wasn’t so terrible that it was unacceptable.
Fortunately, according to the map and his previous judgment, the straight-line distance to the old forward command headquarters wasn’t far.
He should pass an outpost along the way.
If he was lucky enough, he might find some supplies—even if it was just a few bottles of water, some compressed biscuits, or a bit of ammunition.
The truth of the Dead Realm remained shrouded in layers of mist.
But along the way, from the drastic change in the behavior of the Shi Bian Ti, the bizarre paralysis of the command system, the collective cognitive blind spot of the soldiers, to that mysterious black device…
Lin Mo had a premonition that he was approaching the center of the storm.
He was perhaps only a single step away from the core truth!
He had to keep going.
Since the sky hadn’t completely darkened yet and visibility was still relatively clear, Lin Mo decisively dug a shallow hole and buried the bloodied bandage fragments, empty shell casings, and other waste that might expose his tracks.
He stood up again and moved his injured left arm.
Although it still pained him, it wouldn’t hinder his movements too much.
He identified his direction, chambered a round in his pistol, held it in his uninjured right hand, and began moving quickly and cautiously toward the presumed location of the forward command headquarters.
On the other side, Chu You was trekking through the wilderness.
She had been traveling almost non-stop for nearly 24 hours.
Relying on her firm will, wilderness survival skills, and a level of vigilance she never dared to relax, Chu You had crossed the relatively open but danger-filled wilderness behind the logistics warehouse point.
She chose hidden routes as much as possible, avoiding main roads and obvious landmarks.
She had only taken a few brief rests to recover her strength.
Just as she climbed over a rocky slope with sparse vegetation, preparing to descend into another valley, she encountered a group of people at the bottom.
It was a squad of seven or eight soldiers who had fled from the front lines.
Their combat suits were tattered, covered in dirt, blood, and the marks of smoke and fire.
Some walked with their heads down, some gazed forward with hollow eyes, and others hobbled along, supporting each other.
Everyone looked dejected.
The sharpness, stability, and discipline that professional soldiers should possess had almost vanished.
In its place was a deep-seated exhaustion, confusion, and the gloom of the defeated.
The retreating soldiers and Chu You nearly collided on the narrow path at the foot of the slope.
Both sides came to a sudden halt simultaneously, separated by less than twenty meters.
The air froze instantly.