CHAPTER 409: CHAPTER 195: CYBER MONSTER?

The battle inside the base is nearing its end.

But the fight on the entire battlefield is far from over.

Yu Qian follows closely behind Chen Jian, holding the new 191 rifle Chen Jian gave him and firing at any target he can see, while Chen Jian cleans up the battlefield and gathers the scattered reserve soldiers back together.

"Everyone, gather around me!"

"The Mountain Demon has been eliminated; now only ordinary small monsters are coming!"

"Re-establish the defense line!"

"Huang Yu! Where’s Huang Yu?!"

"Captain! I’m here!"

Huang Yu limps over with an injured leg, Chen Jian frowns slightly and asks:

"How’s the injury?"

"Sprained, it’s no big deal!"

Huang Yu’s expression is somewhat contorted, clearly, his injury is not as simple as he claims.

Earlier, Chen Jian had seen him with only a rifle in hand, charging directly at the Mountain Demon. Fortunately, he was lucky he didn’t hit it head-on and was only flung away by a casual swipe.

Otherwise, when Chen Jian calls him now, he’d likely be responding while lying on the ground.

"You stay at the base and organize ammunition supply and transportation."

"The front line consumption is faster than expected, I’m activating the buffer zone supply point to deliver ammunition!"

"Understood!"

Huang Yu doesn’t try to be tough; he knows this is the most suitable arrangement for him given the current situation.

"Fu Xi, open the main channel door, prepare supplies and weapons, we’ll load and depart in 5 minutes!"

"Received."

Fu Xi’s voice comes through the headset, and Chen Jian continues to issue orders while looking at the tactical map on his smart visor:

"Huang Meng, flank to the southeast!"

"There are four rapidly moving giant creatures there, the buffer zone may not hold, go help them!"

"Understood!"

Huang Meng’s hoarse voice comes through the headset, and the tank on the tactical map immediately changes direction.

With the rapid bombardment of over a dozen cannons, nearly half of the large monsters attacking from the front have been exterminated, most of them being hit, penetrated, and then blown to pieces before they can even reach the first defense line.

But some of the monsters managed to advance to close range, where pre-deployed tanks and bombers landed a heavy blow.

Compared to the swarming small creatures like locusts, the attack from these large creatures seems relatively weak.

There’s too few of them, but too many shells.

After entering the deathline drawn by Chen Jian, no matter how fast they are, they can’t outrun the intense barrage that’s almost devoid of blind spots.

Chen Jian waits silently for a moment, ensures that the defense line remains unbroken after the tanks are moved, and then quickly issues new orders.

"All reserve members follow me for airport maintenance."

"Lei Jie, Jiang Yu, prepare for landing!"

"Received, estimated landing in 5 minutes, is that acceptable?"

"Landing in 5 minutes!"

Chen Jian confirms repeatedly, then leads the reserve members towards the airport.

At this time, the runway is littered with monster corpses, all taken down by fixed weapon stations.

Judging by the density, the number of monsters on the airport far exceeds other areas.

This means these small creatures are indeed controlled by some force, launching targeted attacks against Base 011.

Think carefully, the Beast Tide’s tactics are quite complete and "professional".

A large "armor cluster" on the front line consumes enemy heavy firepower, small high-mobility units use numerical superiority to break through the defense line and tear apart the defensive zone under certain casualties, then strong units led by the "Mountain Demon" pierce the core for decapitation strikes, followed by those who successfully breach lead regular combat units in rear disruption missions.

If I were controlling the Beast Tide, I’d likely serve up an identical strategy.

So, the matter of the Beast Tide being controlled by a mastermind can be confirmed tonight.

Next is finding that mastermind and taking them down directly.

Chen Jian takes a deep breath, instructing everyone to transport bodies and quickly patch the large bullet holes.

Minutes later, the runway is mostly repaired, Chen Jian signals to the air, and Lei Jie gently lands the bomber.

Soon, Jiang Yu lands smoothly as well.

"Change battery, load bombs—no wait, load nuclear warheads!"

Lei Jie pants heavily and says:

"I flew around and saw more reserves coming."

"The number of monsters is much higher than we thought, with large monsters numbering over a hundred, possibly several hundred, and there are more than these thousands of small monsters."

"Xuancheng has already been devoured, the whole city is destroyed."

"The situation in surrounding cities isn’t much better—you need to notify He Shuo to prepare."

"Han Shui is a critical node, many monsters will pass through there if necessary, evacuate the people."

"Hide in the mountains, they should avoid, most of Xuancheng’s civilians are evacuated to the mountains, likely half survived."

"Understood."

Chen Jian continues instructing everyone to transport the bombs and batteries, while still asking:

"How’s the situation on the front line?"

"We can hold, the defense line is stable, won’t fall, for now."

Lei Jie takes a sip of water handed by Jiang Yu, spits and says:

"But, these monsters clearly intend to fight us in a war of attrition, they calculated our limited ammunition supply."

"Maybe they even know our ace in the deck—the nuclear bomb, so they’re not deploying their entire force at once."

"Very sly... extremely sly."

"We must find a way to deliver a decisive blow, destroy their command center."

"Or at least, we need to detonate a few nuclear bombs, try to destroy their control system."

"Understood, following your suggestion."

Chen Jian nods solemnly, while Lei Jie continues to ask:

"What’s the situation with the base? Is the Mountain Demon dead? What was it?"

The barrage of questions leaves Chen Jian momentarily unsure how to respond; after a pause, he says:

"It’s dead, not an ordinary monster."

"I finally understand why Zeng Yi said it could kill over a thousand people in one night—it’s been artificially enhanced."

"Its body is covered in synthetic flexible electromechanical armor, practically 100% infrared-shielded, also with radar-absorbing coating, making it almost invisible to our Smart Fire Control System."

"Additionally, it’s possible its body is linked with a Brain Machine."

"I mean, not an ordinary Brain Machine, a mature one with both input and output capabilities."

"It’s an utterly serious cyborg monster, like something out of cyberpunk."

"Damn, that exaggerated?"

Lei Jie is dumbfounded.

"It is that exaggerated."

Chen Jian exhales heavily, continuing:

"Our enemy is much stronger than we anticipated; they haven’t shown their full strength."

"But the good news is... purely in terms of killing capability, we’re not far behind."

"No matter how strong that Mountain Demon was, it can’t be stronger than a furnace of molten iron."

"If they can throw out another Mountain Demon-like creature, we’ll throw our thermite bombs to teach them a lesson."

"Alright then, take off."

"Bomb them, show them some real fireworks!"