This should be near the city center.
The nearby buildings became more dense, and quite a few houses hadn't completely collapsed. The exterior was mottled, and some old metal billboards were scattered on the road. Strange noises vaguely echoed from all directions but were unclear. It was as if shadows swiftly passed by in the dark corners, yet upon close inspection, nothing could be found.
A large number of scrap cars were piled ahead.
The roads were almost entirely blocked. Just by visual estimation, there were over a thousand car wrecks blocking a crossroads.
The group could only walk on the sidewalks, near the precarious houses. The sidewalks were also piled high with debris, and the person in the lead was trying to clear a path. In this city, there were at least hundreds of thousands of scrap cars, with almost every intersection clogged by car wrecks.
What exactly happened back then!
"Explosives!"
The group had barely traversed the heap of car wrecks before their path was blocked again by a recently collapsed house. If they detoured, it would take a long time, so after consulting with each other, they decided to use explosives to open the way. Su Ziyu, trailing behind the group, found it rather relaxed since the Corpse Ghosts were nowhere to be seen; he occasionally glimpsed fleeting shadows behind windows.
"We are very close to the target." Pasha whispered, "After crossing this street, stay hidden. There's a big thing over there!"
Boom!
The collapsed wall ahead exploded open, and along with the blast, rustling sounds spread from all directions.
"Enemies are approaching!"
"Prepare to fire!"
A shadow suddenly lunged from the window on the second floor. Following its emergence, Corpse Ghosts began pouring out of the dark corners.
Boom!
A barrage of gunfire accompanied the explosion sound from a rocket launcher.
The Corpse Ghosts that charged at the forefront were instantly engulfed in a hail of bullets. For this operation, Polaris was more prepared. A six-barrel Gatling heavy machine gun was mounted at the front of the team, spewing over eight thousand bullets per minute—a frightening metal storm that shredded the Corpse Ghosts into a heap of flesh.
"They don't seem that tough to deal with."
Just as this thought crossed Su Ziyu's mind, some shadows exposed themselves to the sunlight, swiftly climbing the wall's ruins, bypassing the frontline, and directly pouncing from above.
These Corpse Ghosts seemed to possess a degree of intelligence, knowing to circumvent the fiercest firepower zones.
"Incendiary Bullet!"
The team at the front encountered enemies, and as the distance closed, the situation suddenly flipped. Unless their heads were hit, the Corpse Ghosts couldn't be killed in one shot, and they didn't even need to kill others; just slashing through the team members' protective suits could thrust them into peril.
In the confinement of alley combat, firearms' power was under constraint, and the incoming Corpse Ghosts couldn't be handled with heavy machine gun fire; otherwise, the Gatling would result in heavy casualties among teammates.
Bang!
Su Ziyu shot a Corpse Ghost lunging at him, then threw his tactical dagger from his waist, instantly killing a Corpse Ghost about to attack Pasha. The incoming Corpse Ghosts were mostly crippled by a round of firepower, and harvesting them was quite manageable for Su Ziyu.
Nearby, there were already hundreds of Corpse Ghost bodies piled up. After suffering significant casualties, they suddenly started retreating, hiding in the surrounding ruins.
"Rest on the spot."
"Organize the defensive line."
The team's casualties weren't too big, though six or seven leading the path had died. However, some operatives' protective suits had been torn by Corpse Ghosts, and the radiation pollution alarm would occasionally sound. The rear members had delivered spare protective suits. After quickly changing the damaged suits, they immediately injected an anti-radiation serum into their arms.
"Be cautious. There are more inside." Pasha's protective suit was also slightly damaged, with just a ten-centimeter-long tear. Yet, the mechanical wristwatch showed a rising radiation pollution index.
If ordinary people were exposed to this environment, radiation-induced organ failure might occur within an hour or two.
Su Ziyu, fighting in a protective suit, felt quite uncomfortable, with his combat prowess not much higher than others. The operatives were essentially elite, with far superior gun techniques compared to Su Ziyu. His biggest advantage was that he could use cold weapons to finish the Corpse Ghosts infiltrating the frontlines. During the recent battle, Su Ziyu had eliminated quite a few Corpse Ghosts that invaded. As long as they weren't close, these Corpse Ghosts were fairly straightforward to handle — directly blanket fire them. But urban settings mostly involved alley fights, where Corpse Ghosts held substantial terrain advantage.
After a brief respite, the group continued forward.
Soon, the view widened significantly, revealing a damaged wall ahead, with a seemingly intact high-rise building directly ahead. Outside was a modest artificial lake, its water murky and dark blue, with clothes identical to theirs floating on the surface.
"Prepare armor-piercing bullets!"
"Prepare incendiary bullets!"
"Bring over the Fat Man I nuclear launcher!"
Numerous traces of explosions were scattered around. As a combatant launched a rocket into the artificial lake, amidst the muffled explosion, bubbles suddenly emerged from the lakebed, and a giant crab claw surfaced.
Damn!
What the hell is this?
A creature resembling a crab, with a diameter of about fifteen meters, surfaced on the artificial lake. It had a thick shell covering its body, six long legs below, and moss-like plants growing on its back, emitting a metal shine of dark blue on its shell, dotted with shallow bullet marks, seemingly left not long ago.
As this massive monster appeared, the golden hourglass in Su Ziyu's space twitched, and a stream of data flowed out.
"Detected Corruption Pollution Creature!"
"Mission: Eliminate Corruption Pollution Creature. [Corruption Pollution Creatures will devastate the current world's ecosystem; please eliminate as soon as possible!]"
"Reward: Authority Level Upgrade! Unlock Partial Database!"
In the moment Su Ziyu was distracted, the combatants had already lured the radiation-mutated monster out. The monster looked quite ferocious, resembling a hermit crab, with enormous, brutal mandibles, charging aggressively upon appearance.
Then.
The man with mechanical prosthetic hands laughed heartily at the others while hoisting a special launcher: "Get down! I'm avenging myself this time!"
Boom!
The ground trembled.
Accompanied by a terrifying explosion, a shockwave spread, followed by a small mushroom cloud rising in front.
.........