Above the originally dead and silent Haiyan City, howling storms kept assaulting the city. On the distant horizon, black clouds hung low like an iron curtain, pressing down the entire sky as if ready to crash onto the sea surface at any moment. The clouds churned and twisted, with occasional flashes of dark purple lightning inside, yet no thunder was heard—only a suffocating silence filled the air.

The ruins of city streets appeared even more desolate under the dim sky. Broken skyscrapers resembled bones gnawed by giant beasts, with shards of glass reflecting ominous faint light. The palm trees along the coastal avenue had long since withered, their dry branches and leaves rustling in the wind like some creatures whispering secrets.

Lin Xian, KIKI, and Shiori swiftly soared through the low sky, heading toward the Infinite at the rail station. The power armor’s holographic display flickered constantly, and the Geiger counter’s alarm blared nonstop, as if all signals beneath this storm were suffering from intense interference.

“There’s so much monster aura inside the clouds, up in the sky...” Shiori’s tone was tense. This oppressive black cloud looming felt like a nightmare reliving the night at Dawn City.

“Lin Xian, have you contacted them?” KIKI used telekinetic power to form a shield against the raging wind and spoke to Lin Xian.

“No!” Lin Xian dashed through the street with the two following closely, creating a violent gust that scattered debris. He looked up toward the thunderous cumulonimbus sky and said gravely, “They should all be retreating to the Infinite. If they encounter trouble, they should be able to respond flexibly.”

“Good!”

Whoosh!

Network anomaly, refreshing and retrying.

Off the eastern coast of Haiyan Island, at the docking port waterfront, the sea surface began to boil.

It wasn’t a normal surge;

the entire sea churned as if boiling, with murky foam rising. Underneath the black water, huge shadows moved faintly. Occasionally surfacing, they revealed semi-transparent glowing bodies before quickly sinking back into the depths.

“This isn’t good.” Ning Jing watched the scene, her face darkening. She immediately gathered all members, preparing to evacuate.

“Watch out!”

“Where’s A Bai?” Ning Jing called to Fire Bro but saw no sign of A Bai.

“There!” Xiao Qing leapt onto the rooftop of a seaside residential building and shouted against the fierce wind.

“Look!”

A Bai’s voice came through the communicator. At that moment, Ning Jing and Fire Bro climbed up. Below the highway was a stretch of jagged black rocky coast. As soon as Lu Xingchen landed, he immediately noticed the inexplicable sight of numerous stranded dead whale corpses along the shoreline. These deep-sea creatures had become rare after the Apocalypse Day, yet here were dozens inexplicably beached.

“A Bai, what do you see?” Ning Jing approached him and found A Bai looking nervously at the low black clouds above the open sea. Slowly raising his hand, he said anxiously, “Don’t you see? There’s something out there!”

As he finished speaking, Ning Jing and Lu Xingchen looked up but only saw the storm’s dark boiling sea surface, nothing else.

“Focus!”

Xiao Qing swung down from the height with a serious voice, “You have to use your mental power to block the storm’s assault in order to see!”

Ning Jing furrowed her brows and immediately activated her peak ability. In an instant, she felt the sea wind hitting the power armor’s shell turn sticky and heavy. Under the roaring storm, she raised her head and looked once again at the pitch-black sea. This time, her pupils contracted sharply as a terrifying scene suddenly appeared before her eyes.

Above the white clouds on the sea surface, several mountain-sized indescribable creatures floated just below the surface, curled like twisted skeletons. They drifted hastily in the same posture in one direction, with multiple giant tentacles dangling underwater like inverted massive trees.

“What kind of evil cult dares to float openly in broad daylight!”

Fire Bro’s face changed slightly upon seeing the scene. The impact was weak on the display behind his eyes. Those huge strange monsters all curled their heads in the same fetal posture, eerily retreating in one direction. The shore was scattered with whale corpses, resembling an apocalyptic nightmare.

“You all need to retreat quickly. All communications have been cut off.”

Boom!

Suddenly, some sounds came from the industrial port area. Meanwhile, A Bai looked toward the boiling sea behind and said lightly, “Nothing’s coming down!”

Ning Jing frowned, turned, and locked onto a large warehouse with her light. She decisively ordered, “Let’s hide inside first. We can’t get marked!”

Immediately, the group moved quickly, rushing into the warehouse amid roaring sounds from all directions.

Elsewhere, in a shopping mall building in the coastal commercial district, Sasa’s heavy mech hurriedly parked into an underground garage amid the intensifying storm. Takahashi Ryunosuke shielded the team with dust shockwaves as they retreated inside. Monica stood on the mall’s front square with a sharp expression and said, “Hurry, before we get discovered.”

After the team retreated, Monica suddenly turned, opening the nano-mask beneath her helmet. She fired an invisible sonic roar sword at an electric tower atop a distant building. The piercing sound shattered the silence. Instantly, the electric tower toppled in the gale, dragging down glass panels that shattered into countless shards.

At that moment, Monica clearly sensed the sounds of those creatures rushing in the storm began moving toward that building. Seizing this distraction, she quickly retreated into the mall’s underground garage with Takahashi Ryunosuke to hide temporarily.

“Sister Mo, shouldn’t we rush straight back to the Infinite?” Sasa asked Monica.

“These things came too fast. Let’s avoid them first. We don’t have any bait agents. If the mark is brought back to the Infinite, it’ll be hard to deal with,” Monica said thoughtfully. Her sonic ability was extremely sensitive, detecting the rapidly approaching creatures. The sky storm was full of unknown dangers, so she had to act decisively.

“It’s not even 3 p.m. yet.” Daluo said, “Let’s wait. The storm might pass soon.”

“This storm’s radiation is very high. We’ve never encountered this before. How could this happen?” Sasa operated the Flying Peach computer and launched several scout drones flying toward the dark underground garage. She asked, “Could it be that floating sea island the Falcon Sea Group mentioned is getting close?”

“That’s possible.” Takahashi Ryunosuke said evenly. “This storm feels alive.”

Monica’s eyes darkened slightly as she quietly observed her surroundings without speaking.

On the island’s west coast, above the rail station’s dome, Qian Dele and Shu Qin’s squad observed the wind direction grimly.

“Have you seen Lin Xian and the others?” From below, fully armed Chen Sixuan called through the communicator.

“Not yet.” Shu Qin replied.

“This storm is too strange. Our signals get severely disturbed just a few hundred meters away. This is definitely unusual.” Luo Yang operated a handheld interruptor while hundreds of drones patrolled at low altitude in formations controlled through nodes. Even so, the electronic system was heavily affected, constantly triggering surge alarms.

Miao Lu and Xiao Yuan were on high alert with weapons ready. Mo Xiaotian nervously watched the dark sky above the dome from the doorway. Sun Yuzhen flew in from afar, calling to Chen Sixuan, “No sign of them in any direction. Should I expand the search area?”

“No!” Chen Sixuan immediately shouted. “It’s not about searching. They might be in trouble. Going out now will only cause chaos. Let Luo Yang patrol with mechs and drones!”

“Exactly.”

Qian Dele jumped down from above the dome and landed on the Infinite’s roof with Lü Chang. “We’ll use the Infinite as our base and send robots to scout. We need to avoid getting marked. This storm reminds me of the Parma snowfield—monster tides can erupt anytime. Even a level one mark is enough trouble.”

“Everyone, get on the vehicle quickly!”

At that moment, Ding Junyi suddenly stepped out from behind Xiao Yuan and Miao Lu, wearing full protective gear with a grave expression. “The blood vines are reacting again. It’s those creatures from last time. Don’t stay outside!”

Chen Sixuan frowned and immediately ordered, “Alright, prepare to close the vehicle doors!”

“Damn!” Qian Dele had intended to have the Infinite raise weapons to wait for other team members but darkened at Ding Junyi’s words. He became serious and immediately called Luo Yang, who was controlling the mech on the roof, “Get down and board the vehicle.”

“Got it!”

With a rumble, the armored vehicle doors of the Infinite shut completely. Chen Sixuan held the massive Night Hunter sniper rifle, peering out the side windows. She kept trying to contact Lin Xian.

“Lin Xian... can you hear me?”

“Pant...”—only noisy static responded.

Meanwhile, Lin Xian and the two others, originally flying fast along the coastline, detoured into a hidden cave on a coastal ridge after Shiori’s reminder.

“Shiori, are you sure there are atmospheric creatures?”

At the cave entrance, Lin Xian and KIKI hid on one side, gazing toward the city area along the coast, where the Infinite was located. Though only about ten kilometers away, Shiori urgently called them back, pointing to the low clouds on the horizon.

“Something terrifying is coming!”

Lin Xian and KIKI looked at the black clouds, seeing only flickering dark lightning and nothing else.

“That’s strange...” KIKI also sensed the anomaly. Shiori’s sensing was always accurate, but they saw nothing. “This storm just suddenly appeared and surrounded the entire island—way too fast.”

Lin Xian said gravely, “I’ve checked Laine’s monitoring data. That floating sea island is at least 200 nautical miles from Haiyan Island. At that speed, the storm wouldn’t affect here for at least three days. This can’t be right.” Find the newest release on NoveI-Fire.ɴet

Though the sea was fickle and unpredictable, this sudden extreme weather was beyond all expectations. Lin Xian’s power armor system could comprehensively sense and analyze weather and pressure for climate prediction. He and Mochizuki Shinji had prepared this before setting sail to provide better maritime safety. Yet, this first storm had disabled the intelligent weather system.

Lin Xian now realized this storm was definitely not a normal natural phenomenon.

“Lin Xian, can you contact Teacher Chen and the others?”

“I’ll try.”

Lin Xian summoned numerous small drones from the Black Star Forge. Without Viola here, he manually set parameters for the drones to fly toward the Infinite in a chained node mode, trying to establish contact.

Rumble rumble.

The ground trembled, stones and rubble slid down the ridge, and massive waves violently crashed against the coastline, sounding like thunder.

Just as he prepared to release the drones, KIKI suddenly grabbed his hand.

“Lin Xian, look quickly!”

Lin Xian stopped and bent to look in the direction KIKI pointed. What he saw made his hair stand on end, his face paling by a third.

In the distance above the coastal city line, a burst of crimson lightning exploded, illuminating the black clouds like blood-stained darkness.

Lin Xian’s pupils shrank violently. At the instant the lightning flashed, a massive shadow like a tilted sky suddenly appeared on his retina. It wasn’t a cloud but the curled head of a giant beast in the stratosphere!

Like a volcanic eruption raising a “sky canopy,” the red lightning constantly flickered over its head. It looked nothing like a strange entity but some ancient Cthulhu-like eldritch god. The part of the head visible beyond the thundercloud alone spanned dozens of kilometers. As the clouds surged and blocked the sky, the head and countless tentacles concealed half the city’s sky. Gigantic tentacles slowly coiled above the city, while the buildings below looked like miniature toys.

This was undoubtedly the largest creature Lin Xian had ever seen, far beyond the atmospheric creature “Sky Touch” in Dawn City.

Boom boom!

Lightning flickered. Lin Xian, KIKI, and Shiori were utterly shocked by this apocalyptic sight. The eldritch god-like creature slowly waved its massive tentacles in the high sky, causing an oily iridescent refraction in the air. The sea horizon tens of kilometers away appeared folded vertically behind its head, as if some spatial distortion had occurred!

“What... what is that?!!!” Lin Xian exclaimed in shock.

KIKI looked grim and said, “S-level? No, this... is even bigger than the Floating Giant Corpse in Jiang City. It’s basically...”

“A world-class disaster?” Lin Xian answered.

“Is it the creature recorded by the Phoenix Society beneath the Pacific deep sea?” KIKI asked.

“Creature No. 04: Unknown Pacific Abyssal Creature, first discovered in the Pacific Black Ocean Abyss on July 11, 2069. Shape unknown. Observed body size exceeding 13 kilometers. Once triggered a tsunami on Bo Island...” Shiori said. “I know this is recorded in the Phoenix Order, but no images exist. It’s only named...”

“Number 04—The Oceanic Titan!”

Lin Xian recalled the Phoenix Order record and, seeing the apocalyptic scene before him, said solemnly, “The Oceanic Titan... our luck is unbelievable. We’ve just gone to sea and already encountered this...”

“World-class disaster?” KIKI said in disbelief. “How could it suddenly appear here?”

“God knows...” Lin Xian looked at the terrifying beast from the deep ocean, clenched his fists tightly, and said solemnly, “The Pacific... is simply a nightmare!”