The Front Line
The Sankar Arsenal sprawled across a vast expanse of ground, and it took a full half hour for their group of fifty to reach the south gate.
During that half hour, Tu Ran made the most of her time, organizing the materials Xie Xu had sent her and gaining a rough understanding of the arsenal's southern sector.
The Sankar Arsenal was divided into four sectors, each responsible for different projects, with different production equipment—and correspondingly different attack plans.
The southern sector she was in charge of mainly produced large armored vehicles, mechs, and fighter jets.
These machines were all bulky items with plenty of cover, perfect for hiding.
The eastern sector, overseen by Xie Hong, mainly produced various types of bombs. The production lines were full of flammable and explosive materials. The initial explosions, which had caused heavy casualties, had occurred there.
Any team responsible for the eastern sector risked triggering a secondary explosion with the slightest misstep.
Xie Hong possessed the [Ice Freeze] ability, allowing him to freeze anything he wished—likely one reason he was assigned to the eastern sector.
The eastern sector was extremely dangerous.
By comparison, the southern sector was much safer.
When the group arrived at the massive metal gate of the arsenal's southern sector, Tu Ran instructed the pioneers and guards following her, "Everyone, stay alert for the monsters' sonic attacks. If you feel at all unwell, withdraw immediately and come back in once you've recovered."
Everyone nodded.
"The Research Institute says the monsters launch their sonic attacks through their throats. If you can't kill them outright, try destroying their throat tubes first to cut off the sound waves."
"Got it!"
Tu Ran nodded. She had nothing else to add for the moment.
Xie Hong's voice came through the earpiece. "Are the three sides ready?"
"Ready," Li Wenchuan answered first.
"Ready." Tu Ran gripped her weapon, turned to face the gray-black metal gate, and entered combat mode.
"Mm." Xie Xu's voice was flat.
"Good. Get ready—three, two, one, GO!"
Tu Ran kicked open the metal gate before her and charged in, taking the lead.
The guards and pioneers behind her followed close on her heels.
At the same time, the other three gates of the Sankar Arsenal swung open.
Armed humans slipped in silently, spreading out methodically as they hunted for the gene monsters.
The gene monsters slumbering deep within the arsenal remained unaware.
"Bang! Bang, bang, bang!!"
Until gunfire rang out in rapid succession.
The gene monsters hidden in every corner were jolted awake and crawled out with a rustling sound.
They weren't large—roughly the height of an adult human.
Their facial features remained unchanged, identical to humans. The difference lay in their abdomens, where eight thin, pitch-black legs like those of arthropods had sprouted, replacing human limbs. They moved swiftly on those eight legs, resembling human-faced spiders overall, yet larger and more human-like than any spider.
Tu Ran ducked into the metal frame of a half-finished armored vehicle, taking aim at the gene monsters crawling out from the corners and opening fire.
After more than two hours of reproduction, their numbers completely overwhelmed the humans who had entered the Sankar Arsenal.
Like a tide, they surged from every corner, closing in on the humans. As they advanced, a layer of dark green moss-like vegetation spread across the ground beneath them, and the metal floor let out a sizzling hiss.
Tu Ran's machine gun muzzle spat sparks as she single-handedly held the monster tide at bay ten meters from the armored vehicle.
The pioneers and guards behind her popped out from cover, quickly finding high ground, setting up their weapons, and laying down overwhelming firepower.
Gradually, a hundred-meter-long curved front line formed, centered on Tu Ran.
The gene monsters were halted seven or eight meters beyond the arc, unable to advance a single step.
The moss beneath their feet stopped spreading, as if an invisible inferno were scorching them, preventing any forward movement. Thin wisps of black smoke rose from the ground.
The monsters' defenses weren't strong—just one bullet could pierce them. If it struck a vital spot, they dropped on the spot, only to be covered by moss and rapidly corroded into a pool of black, viscous liquid.
Gunfire continued unabated, echoing through the Sankar Arsenal.
Wave after wave of monsters fell, only for more to surge forward, seemingly endless.
The sonic attacks from their throats, hidden beneath the gunfire, spread rapidly throughout the arsenal's interior.
The pioneers and guards on the front line rotated out again and again.
Following Tu Ran's instructions, whenever anyone felt their consciousness starting to blur, they immediately retreated, replaced by the next person in line.
They'd rest outside the arsenal for a dozen or so minutes until their minds cleared, then return to relieve someone else.
Back and forth, more than a dozen rounds, everything proceeding in an orderly fashion.
From start to finish, Tu Ran never left.
She was completely unaffected by the sonic attacks.
Her "imperviousness" was unremarkable at first glance, but it proved its worth at this moment.
Braced against the vehicle frame, she was utterly focused. Her eyes saw nothing but the gene monsters, and every bullet hit its mark.
She was like a perpetual motion machine. When others, nauseated and desperate, were forced to retreat from the front line, seeing her still calm and steady in her position stirred a deep sense of admiration.
Thanks to everyone's coordinated efforts, the defense line held.
Finally, after nearly two hours, more than half of the gene monsters that had charged forward were eliminated. The rest, realizing that charging headlong was futile, began to scatter and scramble for cover.
Soon, not a single gene monster remained within the defense line, leaving only a thick layer of black, viscous liquid on the ground.
With no more monsters in sight, Tu Ran snapped out of her intense focus.
"Cease fire," she ordered.
Her voice carried through the earpiece to every pioneer and guard in the southern sector.
Gunfire stopped immediately.
At that point, gunfire from farther away became clearly audible—the other three sectors were still fighting.
Tu Ran jumped down from the mech's roof, grabbed a wrench from the production line's workbench, walked over to the pool of black liquid, and casually tossed the wrench in.
The wrench sank halfway and lay there quietly, unchanged.
She then tentatively stepped into the puddle.
Her combat boot sank into something sticky, like stepping into two centimeters of thick engine oil.
Her boot remained unaffected, and she felt no discomfort on her foot.
"Safe to cross," she said.
Tu Ran took a few steps forward, planting both feet in the liquid.
The ground was slippery.
"Mind your footing. Split up and search thoroughly—don't let a single one slip through," she ordered.
The group filed across the puddle one by one, then split up to search the area.
This slippery liquid was what remained after the gene monster corpses were dissolved by the corrosive moss they produced. It was only present near the curved front line; a dozen meters further out, the ground was clean.