CHAPTER 540: CHAPTER 287: EVE OF DAWN (PART 5)

Swoosh!

The chain sword slashed downwards, splitting open the black shell of the sea urchin entirely, spraying out a massive amount of black slime.

At this moment, under the warning lights of No.1 Machine, Lin Xian saw that inside the hard shell of the black sea urchin, it was filled with spherical substances resembling human brain tissue, densely packed like follicles, with brown-red liquid circulating inside, constantly twisting and deforming, looking extremely horrifying.

Buzz buzz buzz!

The inner cavity of the sea urchin that was split by the sword suddenly erupted with a sound like organ music, the gap rapidly closing, and all the compound eyes outside were now focused on the head cabin of No.1 Machine. Red poured forth, energy fluctuations boiled, and whirlwind and lightning arcs began to flicker and explode in the surrounding streets!

It was that laser beam again!

"Lin Xian!!"

"Captain Lin!!"

On the burning battlefield, dozens from the hunting group rushed over to assist, and all flying devices in the sky sped towards the scene. Witnessing this terrifying spectacle, everyone realized what the sea urchin intended to do!

Wen Zhuo, Han Jun, Brother Huo, and others exerted their superpowers with all their might, gathering a large amount of material in front of the sea urchin’s compound eyes, attempting to block this death ray.

The next instant, a dark red beam blasted out, immediately obliterating the head section of No.1 Machine!

Buzz buzz buzz, within an instant, the surrounding ruins turned red-hot and melted due to the high temperature, and the snowstorm in the air was vaporized into steam rising up. The entire Central District was shrouded in a dark red halo, the ground trembled, the light blinding.

Finally, as the spraying of the dark red death beam ceased and the thick smoke dissipated, everyone thought Lin Xian was certainly dead. Yet, charging at the forefront, Wen Zhuo suddenly saw that in the air in front of the head cabin of No.1 Machine, there was a translucent energy shield rapidly flickering, a polygonal light shield covering almost the entire upper half of No.1 Machine!

At this time, No.1 Machine, except for emitting steaming heat, was actually unscathed!

"What is this?!!"

"It actually blocked that beam!"

"Impossible!"

...

The nano-ceramic panels hidden in the head of No.1 Machine broke off inch by inch under the high temperature and fell. Lin Xian stood on the control platform, his eyes flashing with electric arcs. He supported a massive AT force field defense shield with one hand, behind him strangely appeared a blue superstring reactor phase rainbow ring, a large number of cables floated behind, countless electric arcs like a spider web connected behind him!

At this moment, the nuclear-powered turbine engine of No.1 Machine was fiercely operating, a large amount of electricity surging out!

With the smoke dispersing, the countless scarlet compound eyes focused on Lin Xian from the sky twisted madly, seemingly bursting with endless questions of how the prey was still alive at this moment...

At this time, Lin Xian slowly raised his finger, his gaze blood-red, pointing to the cracked, yet unclosed black shell of the sea urchin, softly murmuring

"Gravitational Lens"

A spatial humming sounded, and all noise on the battlefield seemed to pause instantly, quiet as before.

In an instant, everyone on the battlefield felt that the already dim light of Central District immediately darkened. A distorted space formed in the crack of the giant sea urchin’s black shell, like a black water whirlpool in the air. The red light of the whole sea urchin’s compound eyes was simultaneously twisted.

At once, that twisted dark region stirred and devoured all the red light and starlight, turning into a massive dark red black hole!

The black hole expanded rapidly, like a gigantic meat grinder with significant gravity, instantly shredding the giant sea urchin’s black shell and the follicles inside into a spherical cavity!

At this moment, all the compound eyes of the giant sea urchin trembled violently, that organ-like bizarre sound woo~ hiss, woo~ hiss continuously emitted.

Lin Xian exhausted all his strength, extending that lens to the maximum limit he could use in an instant.

With a loud bang, the immense strangling force instantly gouged out a cavity about 1/5 of the size of the giant sea urchin!

On the other side, Wen Zhuo and others, witnessing this scene, immediately sensed an opportunity and shouted loudly into the communicator

"Quick, this is a perfect chance, finish it off in one go!!"

The words spread instantly across the entire battlefield.

In a flash, Brother Huo, Lu Xingchen, Han Jun, Qin Xueming, and the 20 or more hunting groups that arrived, along with the flying devices in the sky and missiles from the three defensive line supports, all simultaneously launched the hunting song, firing ferociously at the sea urchin’s exposed cavity.

Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!

The giant sea urchin was still trying to raise a defensive barrier with its remaining black thorns, but the little it had left of the barrier was totally insufficient,

countless energy explosions, a metallic storm poured forth!

Without that strange defensive barrier, its body, in the face of the firepower of the Seventh Investigation Corps and tens of thousands of survivors, was nothing more than a massive chunk of meat, instantly disintegrated and shattered, remaining tissue fragments flew in all directions.

In the cockpit at the head of the No.1 Machine, Lin Xian watched the dazzling explosion flames in the sky, his vision began to blur, and all the suspended cables fell down. He only felt the world spinning, only able to hear his own breathing and heartbeat. In the blink of an eye, he had silently fallen down, he turned his head, lying beside him was Chen Wei, who had already died. All neuro-sensory cables were still linked to his body, and at the last moment, he maintained the action of stabbing the chain sword, the two Phoenix Society badges on his neck slid down to his neck.

One for Chen Wei, one for Chen Lie.

"Lin Xian!"

At this moment, Lin Xian heard Chen Sixuan’s voice. He turned his head, and before losing consciousness, saw a nimble figure in Black Hawk Battle Armor clear away the fragments of the nano-ceramic panel, appearing above the cockpit.

...

Clang, clang.

Clang, clang.

In the snowstorm, the sound of the tracks was like a lullaby, 22 Doomsday Trains traveled along the north track, like a dragon of wind and snow, departing from Xilan City in the darkness.

September 1, D-95, 5:25 AM.

The defense battle of Xilan City ended.

Of the over 65,000 survivors in the city, only over 29,000 remained, more than 7,000 soldiers of the 12,256 Investigation Corps were lost in total, two-thirds of the aviation combat squadron was lost, the Dreadnought Level aerospace carrier was destroyed, and only 21 of the 35 hunting squads remained...

The giant sea urchin was annihilated by the full city firepower, billowing black smoke engulfed the land, and all the monster tides completely retreated, humanity achieved a brutal victory.

Wei Kexue, Sun Kai, Chen Wei, Xiao He, Chen Xiao, Zhang Chengzhi, Wu Zhenhai, Liao Ming, Lu Yong... countless people forever sleep in this snowstorm, never to see the September dawn.

The Phoenix Society led all remaining survivors and the Investigation Corps together, heading towards the east, soon to be covered by Star Abyss No.5 before dawn. Meanwhile, the train group headed by Infinity and Dragon Mountain No.1 could only continue along the north track, entering the snowstorm and Extreme Night, getting closer to Star Abyss No.5.

This was a quiet mass exodus.

"Director Zhao, did the postman beacon get sent out?"

On the Phoenix Society’s large base vehicle, Wen Zhuo asked Zhao Yu.

"In the latest Fire Book data packet, Dawn Center has received it."

"Which postman group was it?"

Zhao Yu pondered slightly: "There was no postman group, the tracking signals of the 12 postman groups have all disappeared."

After saying this, he turned around and looked at Wen Zhuo: "A group called the Blackie convoy found Zhou Wuer and Peng Peng. By the time they were found, they were gone, so that guy called Long Dahei took the beacon out for them."

Hearing this, Wen Zhuo’s fingers subconsciously twitched, and after a long time, he softly said, "Alright."

Just as Wen Zhuo was leaving, Zhao Yu called out to him. After some consideration, he finally spoke, "He was your friend, right? He was a good man..."

"He was my brother."

Wen Zhuo took a deep breath, turned, and left.

At this moment, deep in the vast blizzard, countless corpses of Snow Demon Snow Demons piled up into an alluvial area, and at its center, Zhou Wuer was curled up with Peng Peng, already buried by the wind and snow. In the specially-made postman bag, a bottle of unopened Xinghua Fen wine still lay quietly inside, letting the wind and snow sweep over it.

"Zizz..."

"Phoenix Society global notification, the scientific research team successfully analyzed the operational principles of Dark Creatures at the Star Abyss frontline, named it [Dark Mark], and the Phoenix Society’s scientific team has successfully developed the new generation of Soul Swinging Value Detectors in collaboration with Xinghua Heavy Industry. In addition to directly detecting the peak value of individual Spirit Vibration Values, it also has the function of detecting the concentration of individual [Mark], and the Phoenix Society is hereby issuing a notice to survivors worldwide..."

"Do not carry the Mark into the Extreme Night, daylight is ending, in the face of danger, burn and roar, before the Starfire ignites and spreads, please, in the night... remain silent!"

(End of Volume Two)