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After encountering a talking mutated beast, Qi Yang was no longer overly surprised by this massive creature that was clearly at least an S-level mutant.
He didn’t give up his actions because of the broken blade; instead, he firmly grasped the damaged hilt and thrust the sharp blade into a deep white mark.
"Roar... human... damn it..."
The already torn skin was completely breached under Qi Yang’s full-force strike.
The broken blade pierced directly into the foot of the giant mutant beast, causing it to howl in agony.
Its other foot quickly stomped down, but Qi Yang nimbly dodged and ran toward the direction where S1 had fainted.
However, just five meters away, Qi Yang watched helplessly as a densely furred hand grabbed the severely injured humanoid mutant beast and, with a gentle squeeze, reduced it to nothing—crushed into a pulp.
"No!!!!"
Qi Yang’s eyes widened abruptly, and an image of a pair of clear, transparent eyes flashed in his mind.
From the first time they met, those eyes were pitch black while gleaming with intense vigilance and distrust, but later they transformed into a clean, beautiful translucence that were filled only with fear and terror.
Quickly pulling a damaged A-5 Killing Machine from the ruins of the building, Qi Yang’s expression turned icy.
He swiftly assembled the weapon with movements too fast for the naked eye to follow and barely managed to fire a shell.
The shell spiraled through the air and headed straight for the mutant beast’s chest.
Everything happened so quickly that the beast had no time to dodge.
It instinctively tried to raise its arms to block its chest, but the movement paused mid-air for a moment before it quickly tucked its right arm behind its back, seemingly panicking.
"Boom—"
The shell from the Killing Machine struck and exploded into a brilliant splash of blood on the giant mutant beast’s chest.
It staggered forward a few steps and even nearly fell before it looked up at Qi Yang.
Its massive beastly eyes reflected the man’s cold and indifferent expression.
Surprisingly, as an intelligent S-level mutant beast, it instinctively chose to avoid danger—
It turned and fled!
This human didn’t pose a significant threat, but the beast had an ominous premonition.
If the fight continued, the outcome would certainly be its death, and perhaps... something even worse.
The sky trembled as if thousands of giant elephants were stampeding.
The S-level giant mutant beast’s two legs, each about thirty meters long, were still running across the ground.
Eventually, it resorted to using all four limbs to escape.
Even in its frantic flight, it was careful not to let its right palm touch the ground, as if it held something extremely precious and fragile.
The giant mutant beast plunged into the river and soon disappeared beneath the calm surface, leaving behind massive ripples.
After its ear-piercing roar upon entering the water, all the evolved humans battling hundreds of mutant beasts by the riverbank were astonished to find that their enemies were retreating rapidly.
Everything was as eerie as when they had arrived.
The mutant beasts that had attacked the research institute fled just as quickly.
Apart from the ripples on the river, the scattered debris of shattered boulders on the ground, and the faint but suffocating smell of blood in the air, everything seemed unchanged.
"Did we... win?!"
The first cheer erupted, followed by a tidal wave of collective roars.
Everyone couldn’t help but express their joy at surviving the ordeal.
The intense emotions infected everyone, and moments later, cheers resembling an ocean wave came from the direction of the beach embankment.
The cheers had barely subsided when a hoarse, torn voice suddenly rang out: "Come... come and help."
The voice was extremely weak amidst the thunderous cheers.
"Come and help!!!"
Qi Yang shouted at the top of his lungs. His voice alerted the nearby evolved humans, who turned and saw the vast, chaotic ruins and the man standing alone amidst the devastation.
In his right hand, he held a pitch-black A-5 Killing Machine while its barrel aimed at the ground to support his body. He stood tall and straight, but it was impossible to hide his unsteady, swaying figure in the wind.
"Major Qi? ... Ah! Help him!!!"
Countless evolved humans, realizing the situation, quickly joined the effort to dig out the injured.
Among them were many strength-type evolved humans who effortlessly tossed aside massive boulders to search for those buried or injured by the collapsed buildings.
With the support of a female assistant in a black coat, Qi Yang slowly walked away. Only after stepping off the blood-stained ruins did he toss the A-5 Killing Machine, which had long been out of ammunition, to the ground.
"Major Qi, do we need to recover this gun?"
"No need... cough..." A fit of violent coughing interrupted him. It took a while before Qi Yang could catch his breath: "Even if it had bullets, it’s unusable now. Just leave it here and let it be..."
His voice trailed off as Qi Yang slowly turned to look at the place where he had worked for over four months.
The building had been reduced to a pile of rubble.
The largest boulder was thrown a dozen meters away from the ruins, and a glaring red bloodstain on the white wall was deeply imprinted in Qi Yang’s eyes.
"Major Qi?" the assistant asked in surprise.
Qi Yang slowly closed his eyes and softly whispered, as if talking to himself: "Let this be... a tribute to you."
After these words, Qi Yang refused to speak further.
The assistant wisely didn’t press him and helped him to the medical area for treatment.
Behind them, the thick clouds that had obscured the sky gradually dispersed.
The wind also stopped blowing so fiercely, as if a storm had been brewing but failed to erupt.
The heavy clouds dissipated and allowed the brilliant sunlight to once again envelop the earth.
The warm sunlight, now without the previous scorching heat, caressed the blood-stained pebbles on the beach washed by the sea.
It shone on the S City Base that had been isolated by darkness, illuminating everyone’s hearts and dispelling the terrifying, cold aura.
When the sunlight fell on the bright red bloodstain on the rock, it seemed to ignite a golden flame.
The bloodstain gradually faded from red then slowly transformed into a dazzling golden hue. Yet, everyone was too focused on searching for possible survivors, saving every second for rescue, and no one noticed this small anomaly.
The golden, shimmering bloodstain slowly disappeared under the clear sky—
Then vanishing into thin air.
In reality, shortly after the mutant beast horde began their assault on the research institute, Jing Xia and Ji Chuancheng had immediately decided to rush back to assist.
It was only then that the S-level mutated conger eel stopped holding back and revealing its terrifying true strength.
Previously, this intelligent mutant beast had deliberately concealed its power and kept most of the evolved humans engaged in the battle at the beach embankment. Now that its plan had succeeded, it unleashed its full strength without restraint.
The former was a delay tactic, while the latter was a more violent and calculated extension of that delay.
Jing Xia had tried multiple times to break free but to no avail.
He finally decided to kill the troublesome beast as quickly as possible and work together with Ji Chuancheng.
However, just as they were about to act, Ji Chuancheng, dragging his left leg that had been torn open, was shocked to see the mutant conger eel turn and flee without hesitation!
If the fight had continued, although the evolved humans would have suffered heavy casualties, they could have certainly killed the equally wounded mutant conger eel within ten minutes. But once the beast decided to flee, it became an easy escape, especially in its current desperate state.
Watching the mutant horde completely vanish into the vast ocean, Jing Xia furrowed his brow while lost in thought for a long while.
He went to support Ji Chuancheng’s injured body and said in a low voice: "This situation is very abnormal, as if... their attack this time had a purpose. Once they achieved it, they could withdraw."
Ji Chuancheng while leaning on Jing Xia with half his body, used an A-7 Killing Machine to support himself.
His handsome brows were tightly knit, and after a moment, he nodded in agreement: "The research institute had something they needed, and now... I think they’ve got it."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jing Xia instantly understood: "Could it be STAB-1?!"
This answer was later denied by Qi Yang.
With a cold gaze and an indifferent expression, Qi Yang pulled out a white remote control slightly larger than a palm from his inner pocket.
It had only one button and was painted in a striking red, hinting at some ominous information.
"STAB-1 has always been with me; it wasn’t taken," Qi Yang said, his forehead wrapped in thick gauze, his arm in a sling, and a bandage on his left cheek. He looked even more severely injured than Jing Xia, who had just returned from the battlefield.
He continued: "But your speculation isn’t without reason. The S-level mutant beast that attacked the research institute must have somehow detected that you had STAB-1, which is why it retreated and... why its companions also fled quickly."
Jing Xia had already informed Qi Yang about the events at the beach embankment.
The refined man speculated for a moment before adding: "Two S-level mutant beasts—this is almost the limit of what we can handle right now. Moreover, these two are among the top-tier S-level mutants, with a tendency to verge on SS-level. Add to that the several ordinary S-level mutant beasts you mentioned seeing on the beach."
After a pause, Qi Yang sighed: "If things had gone as I thought, with so many high-level mutant beasts present, I might have really detonated STAB-1." His tone showed no hesitation or remorse, as if he were merely discussing lighting a firework.
But this time, Jing Xia didn’t argue.
He silently lowered his head and a quiet voice in his heart silently supported Qi Yang’s decision.
STAB-1 was currently the most powerful weapon developed by the S City research institute, a veritable trump card.
With nuclear weapons rendered ineffective in the apocalypse, humanity’s strongest arms had long lost their former terrifying impact.
After more than half a year of research, Qi Yang, through his study of the brain tissue of the experimental C-level mutant S1, invented STAB-1.
This powerful missile was buried along the N Road in S City’s former core commercial district.
Spanning from one end of the street to the other, with one planted every fifty meters.
Once detonated, it could trigger a chain reaction, resulting in the most devastating explosion.
Unable to test its use, after intense debate and joint deduction by Qi Yang and Professor Qi, STAB-1’s effective range was determined to cover the entire S City Base with the potential to radiate to surrounding areas. Thus, it was either not used at all, or used only in a life-and-death scenario!
Jing Xia sighed helplessly: "Two top-tier S-level mutant beasts, plus nearly ten ordinary S-level mutants and hundreds of A-level mutants. If we had really detonated STAB-1, then... the marine mutant beast forces would have been reduced by at least half. Trading our hundreds of thousands of lives to give hundreds of millions of people on the mainland a chance at victory—it would have been worth it." His tone showed no hint of complaint.
"It’s just a pity... it escaped too quickly."
Jing Xia silently nodded.
Not long after, doctors from the medical area began examining Qi Yang’s condition, and Jing Xia took the opportunity to leave the tent and check on Ji Chuancheng. As he stepped out of the tent, he suddenly turned to look back into the room.
There, the handsome and refined man was staring blankly ahead with his gaze unfocused, as if he were doing the simplest thing—daydreaming—something he would never normally waste time on.
The red-star glasses that usually rested on Qi Yang’s nose bridge seemed to have gone missing in the chaos.
This was the first time Jing Xia had truly seen those eyes that were always filled with teasing provocation, displaying an emotion akin to helpless despair.
Is this... Qi Yang?
A strange question suddenly arose in Jing Xia’s mind. After pondering for a while, he abruptly turned and walked away.
Yes, this is Qi Yang.