Chapter 529: Slaughter Under Hallucinations
"Roar! Roar!" One after another, the xenomorphs charged and leaped forward, using limbs infinitely close to human form to make movements infinitely close to wild beasts, springing and jumping among the trees and undergrowth, time and again opening their jaws wide to bite at Yi Mao and the others. When they got close, even the spittle they sprayed could splash onto their faces!
What was truly despairing was that during this time, more xenomorphs kept emerging from the jungle from unknown locations to join the horde. Looking from a distance, the xenomorphs had nearly surrounded them in a complete circle. They were already at the bottom of the circle, and the gap directly ahead was moving forward faster than they could run—it was utterly impossible to reach!
"Why are there so many xenomorphs here!" Yi Mao screamed uncontrollably, actually aiming his gun at Jin Dong, who was flying steadily at a moderate height. "He deliberately led us here!"
Jin Dong, flying in the air, couldn't dodge. He could only use the skateboard he had received earlier to block in front of him. After barely deflecting two shots, he was dragged forward by the kite string.
Xu Huo had already landed. At a position relatively far from the xenomorphs, he deployed the "101 Emergency Shelter," took the skateboard from Jin Dong's hands, threw the man inside, and stood at the entrance, saying to Liang Song and the others, "One item each, hand them over!"
Demanding this under such critical circumstances seemed like taking advantage of their predicament, but Liang Song and the others had no room to bargain. From over ten meters away, they tossed their items over.
Once Xu Huo had the items, he moved aside. Liang Song and the others first threw Yi Mao and Wan Xiao inside, then made their own all-out sprint, finally managing to jump into the shelter just before the xenomorph horde caught up.
"Bang!" The door closed, and outside came a dense but muffled impact sound, like raindrops battering from all directions.
Liang Song and the others, leaning against the wall or lying on the floor, took several seconds to come to their senses and look around the space.
It was a small room just over twenty square meters, even equipped with simple tables, chairs, cabinets, and lighting tools. The current light came from a rechargeable lamp, and there was an open mini kitchen nearby. Though not connected to any energy source, it was enough to prepare some instant food.
Staying inside was completely safe.
"This is also an item? I can't believe there's an item like this." Yue Weiping touched the floor. "You can barely hear the xenomorph horde passing by outside. This item is really impressive!"
Under normal circumstances, they should have been swept away by the xenomorph horde, but this room remained completely still, showing just how sturdy it was.
"Use some cleaning agent to wash up," Xu Huo reminded them. "Don't spread germs everywhere. If even the last refuge is lost, we'll all have to go outside."
Hearing this, the others immediately restrained their movements, trying not to touch too many surfaces. After using the necessary cleaning agents and antidotes, Yue Weiping finally came to confront Jin Dong.
Jin Dong repeatedly explained that he had no idea why it had turned out this way, insisting that when he came last time, he hadn't encountered so many xenomorphs.
"The last time you came was over a year ago! In the meantime, you were raving mad and out of your mind—what's so strange about the cleanup zone changing?" Wan Xiao gritted his teeth. "Anyway, you've screwed us over royally. None of us are getting back now!"
"There's another thing—what happened to you guys earlier? You suddenly went crazy?" Liang Song asked.
Yi Mao was clueless, but Wan Xiao reacted quickly, pulling out his own portable tools to check himself. A few minutes later, when the results came out, he frowned and said, "We've been had after all. Maybe the air in the cleanup zone is also contaminated."
Yi Mao swallowed hard. "If the air is contaminated, what symptoms would appear?"
As for symptoms, it was probably excessive agitation, along with a lower perception of pain and a complete lack of fear.
The xenomorph horde invaded the jungle, catching the warriors who had just arrived in this area off guard. Unable to avoid it, they had to fight back with firepower. Just as it seemed they would be completely wiped out, the xenomorph horde suddenly changed course mid-charge, heading toward the canyon area ahead.
"What's going on?" The group that had encountered Xu Huo earlier was also a surviving team. The one who spoke was a tall man. He had just walked up to the leader, a man in a black hat, when a bullet flew in and pierced his chest!
The shot was originally aimed at the black-hatted man—that was clear from the trajectory—but it just happened to be blocked by the tall man.
The black-hatted man held the tall man's corpse in front of him as a shield and spotted a few scattered xenomorphs appearing in the distance. He shouted, "These xenomorphs are different from the ones before. They're probably intelligent. Everyone, be careful!"
Under the thermal imaging, those gun-wielding xenomorphs clearly understood tactics. They actually formed tactical squads to advance—some providing cover, others charging forward, coordinating with remarkable precision!
The people on the black-hatted man's side had all undergone some military training and knew basic evasion methods. Using the cover of trees and grass, they quickly scattered and began a battle of wits with the approaching xenomorphs.
Under thermal imaging, it wasn't easy to completely hide one's tracks, but once successful, it became very easy to take down the opponent.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Gunfire rang out intermittently. Both sides suffered casualties and kept encroaching on each other's combat zones. No one retreated, so as time passed, the number of people on the black-hatted man's side kept decreasing.
After several rounds of fierce clashes, only a few injured remained on the black-hatted man's side. Forced to send a retreat signal, he crawled backward after receiving the return command. But before he could get a few meters away, a ferocious xenomorph appeared behind him, knelt on his spine to break it, and then strangled him to death!
After the black-hatted man died, the xenomorph that had killed him let out a strange, wheezing sound, dragged his corpse, and quickly disappeared into the depths of the grass.
Almost all of the remaining people on the black-hatted man's side were killed in this quiet manner. Some were even dismembered after death, their fragmented bodies left where they fell, while the intact ones were dragged away. In a short time, the jungle fell silent again.
On Xu Huo's side, after replenishing their strength, the group finally emerged from the shelter. The jungle, ravaged by the xenomorph horde, was unrecognizable—large patches of topsoil and green vegetation had been overturned, and the exposed plant roots and soil gave off a strange odor.
With the lesson from before, they did their best to cover their mouths and noses, using their own protective shields to block them. As they continued along the planned route, they also discovered many severed limbs of warriors.
"They must have been torn apart by the xenomorphs," Liang Song said.
They moved forward a bit more and soon encountered a burning pile of corpses.
Yes, a two-meter-high pile of corpses doused with fuel and set ablaze.
Xu Huo examined the traces around the area and returned to say, "There was a firefight here."
"This is from the group we ran into earlier..." Yue Weiping frowned. "The xenomorph tide just passed. Who could have done this?"
"There are signs of torture and killing nearby," Xu Huo paused, then said, "Since they knew to burn the bodies, it rules out the xenomorphs. It might have been warriors trapped in hallucinations."