Chapter 45: The Relentless Monster
“Gah—”
The hoarse scream, as if tearing through its throat, was piercingly sharp.
Yet the circling corrosive vulture did not launch a sudden, fierce attack as it had against the helicopter.
Instead, it vigorously flapped its wings, scattering a wide spray of black droplets the size of rice grains.
“We’ve been targeted! Take cover!”
They knew exactly what these black liquids from the corrosive vulture were.
The highly corrosive fluid posed a great threat.
When the black liquid fell like rain and touched their clothing, the fabric fibers dissolved at a visible rate.
Damage to clothes and gear was secondary.
If the gas masks or skin were corroded, it would be disastrous—especially the latter.
This black bodily fluid contained numerous unknown viruses.
Once it invaded the body, it would infect the person within minutes.
Complete death was the best outcome.
More often, victims became one of the walking dead.
“This way!”
Han Nianling’s voice guided the group to quickly enter a nearby cluster of buildings to avoid the corrosive liquid raining down.
They had just escaped the zombie horde’s encirclement.
Now, facing the corrosive vulture, they had to seek shelter under reinforced concrete.
The relentless crises kept everyone’s nerves on edge.
Why had the corrosive vulture targeted them?
This encounter left Zhong Jing deeply puzzled.
They weren’t as conspicuous as the helicopter.
In the central city area, they had maintained stealth and low-profile operations.
They should have been unlikely targets for the corrosive vulture.
Moreover, this corrosive vulture had attacked a helicopter carrying over a dozen people not long ago.
Returning so quickly clearly wasn’t to satisfy hunger.
Could it be… preventing other creatures from approaching the core of the central city area?
“Boom!!!”
A sudden violent tremor from the building’s wall interrupted Zhong Jing’s thoughts.
Unsteady, she nearly fell to the ground.
An earthquake? No… the tremor seemed to stem from a powerful external impact.
The corrosive vulture’s impatient screeches were unexpectedly close, as if ringing in their ears.
Could it be…
When they looked through the window, they realized: the corrosive vulture, previously circling in the sky, had landed on their building.
Its powerful claws dug deep into the wall, embedding into the concrete to anchor its massive body.
Tilting its head, it peered through the building’s damaged gaps with its pupils, searching for the team’s traces.
How could this be?!
No one expected the corrosive vulture’s desire to attack them to be so intense.
This scene was particularly abnormal.
Ample data showed that, in almost all cases, corrosive vultures rarely abandoned their aerial advantage to descend recklessly.
Let alone land completely.
Clinging at this height was no different from landing on the ground.
Juvenile corrosive vultures were top-tier predators among Tier 2 creatures, largely because they could soar in the sky and launch surprise attacks.
Once grounded, they faced significant risks.
They were not adept at close combat and couldn’t even match a headhunter wild dog of the same tier.
Was it protecting a nest?
Zhong Jing quickly dismissed this guess herself.
Everyone knew this corrosive vulture was still a juvenile—it had no obligation to guard a nest.
“Boom—”
“Argh!!!”
The next second, a soldier leaning against a wall to avoid falling debris was suddenly blasted away as the wall exploded.
A half-meter-long black beak broke through the concrete, revealed in everyone’s shocked gazes.
They knew this porous building couldn’t provide long-term cover.
But they didn’t expect the corrosive vulture to pinpoint their location so quickly.
“Cover the wound, relax your breathing…”
Another security team member, doubling as a medic, rushed toward the teammate flung by the wall’s collapse.
But he hadn’t gone far before stopping in his tracks.
The dark visor of his gas mask reflected the teammate lying on the ground.
The bulletproof vest hadn’t blocked the attack.
Blood poured from a pierced left chest.
A small amount of black liquid clung to the wound, emitting a cyan mist.
Such an injury was beyond saving, even in Chu Sheng City’s top emergency room.
The pain of a lingering death would only be prolonged.
“Gasp… gasp…”
The fallen teammate was exhaling more than inhaling.
Under the dual torment of the wound and corrosion, he had no strength to move.
Yet he struggled to force faint, garbled sounds from his throat.
The medic knew what his teammate was hoping for.
Without hesitation, in a practiced motion repeated countless times, he drew his handgun, aimed at his teammate’s head, and pulled the trigger.
The bullet pierced the gas mask’s visor, hitting the forehead.
A thin stream of blood spurted out, marking the end of life.
This was the medic’s duty—to grant relief from suffering, in life or death.
“Move! Stay away from the walls!”
The relentless corrosive vulture gave them no respite, intent on wiping them out completely.
Facing the pursuit, the team had no choice but to venture deeper into the building.
The building’s interior was dominated by black and white tones, resembling a high-end exhibition hall.
Scattered art exhibits—paintings, sculptures, ceramics—lay in disarray.
It seemed an art exhibition was ongoing when the war broke out.
Human remains were rare, likely due to an emergency evacuation.
So far, Zhong Jing had only seen one: a white skeleton curled in a corner, clutching a charred picture frame.
Even sacrificing life to save these works had been futile.
No matter how great the achievements or profound the meanings of these artworks, they were destined to perish with the pre-war world’s civilization…
The open floor was littered with glass from shattered display cases.
Each step on the glass produced a piercing noise and risked slipping and falling.
Boom!!!
To the left, a glass-themed wall exploded, its debris and dust blocking the team’s path ahead.
This time, it wasn’t just the beak that breached the building—it was the corrosive vulture’s entire head.
The massive head, over half a meter tall, intruded into the room.
Dirty black feathers oozed black liquid.
Its dark red pupil, tilted sideways, locked onto everyone’s eyes.
So fast?
They knew this porous building could hardly provide effective cover.
But the corrosive vulture’s speed still astonished them.
The sudden event didn’t cause panic.
No verbal orders were needed.
Almost simultaneously, everyone chose to pull the trigger.
Bullets poured out like a dense storm.
Yet the timeliness of their counterattack couldn’t compensate for the lack of firepower.
The bullets couldn’t harm the corrosive vulture’s tough hide.
Even its mucus-coated feathers were impenetrable.
The vulture merely closed its nictitating membranes to protect its eyes, ignoring all threats from the bullets.
As the team counterattacked, the fine, layered feathers on the vulture’s neck suddenly puffed up.
Its long neck resembled a tattered feather duster.
But this comical posture only sent a chill down the team’s spines.
“Take cover!”
Whoosh—!!!
The last word had barely left Luo Shi’s mouth when, the next second, the corrosive vulture’s frantic thrashing sent a mass of black corrosive liquid spraying from the gaps in its feathers.
Unlike the earlier soybean-sized droplets, at this close range, the liquid didn’t fragment over distance.
It came at them in fist-sized clumps.
Viscous, filthy, and reeking of a foul stench, its deadliness was far worse.
The moment the corrosive liquid detached from the feathers, Zhong Jing reacted.
From the first glimpse of the corrosive vulture, she had been on high alert.
She shoved Han Nianling, standing beside her, to the ground, landing behind the nearest tall exhibit stand for cover.
How could this be?
But as she fell, Zhong Jing suddenly realized reality deviated slightly from her expectations.
The height difference caused a misjudgment in direction.
Pushing Han Nianling face-to-face, she collided fully with her.
After hitting the ground, the impact’s jolt clearly transmitted the sensation of an elastic, soft object pressed tightly against her face.
Though restrained by clothing, its considerable elasticity slapped against her…
Zhong Jing instinctively tried to get up, but Han Nianling’s hand firmly pinned her down…
That familiar suffocating feeling…
“Don’t move if you want to live.”
‘Splat!’
As Han Nianling spoke, a clump of black corrosive liquid flew over the stand, landing less than half a meter from them.
Upon impact, the splattering liquid expanded its destructive range.
The sizzling sound of corrosion rang in their ears, the acrid smell overwhelming.
“Curl up, minimize your body’s exposure. The juvenile corrosive vulture’s corrosive liquid is limited, relying on stored egg fluid. It’ll leave soon.”
“Gah gah gah gah!!!”
The hoarse screech came again, but this time it didn’t sound like a prelude to an attack.
The tone was fiercer, angrier, as if it had been struck by something…
“Wait, the corrosive vulture’s movements are odd.”
A teammate’s voice prompted Zhong Jing to peek from the corner.
The corrosive vulture had stopped attacking.
Its head, still inside the building, was thrashing violently, as if struggling against something, making the entire exhibition hall tremble.
The corrosive liquid attacks, which had been shrinking their hiding space, suddenly ceased.
The vulture struggled intensely.
Its wildly flailing neck swept exhibits and stands aside.
Its hoarse, shrill screeches were far more piercing than the corrosive liquid.
If any intact glass remained, it would have shattered into grains finer than sand under such sound waves.
“Move! Retreat! Get out of here!”
As the vulture’s struggles intensified, more cracks spread across the surrounding walls.
Fist-sized rocks fell, striking Luo Shi’s helmet.
The successive impacts rang through the helmet, pounding his eardrums.
Though no real harm was done, it warned them the exhibition hall was on the verge of collapse.
“Roar roar roar roar!!!!”
A fierce roar suddenly came from beyond the wall.
The vulture’s head seemed to be dragged out of the building by some force.
Zhong Jing, just standing, nearly fell again.
Fortunately, Han Nianling, rising, caught her in time.
“Outside—it’s a giant walker! It’s grabbed the corrosive vulture!”
As the team wondered about the events beyond the wall, a security team soldier near the window relayed his observations to the group.
A massive figure appeared in his view through the window.
Its enormous size couldn’t even fit entirely within his field of vision.
A giant walker? Had the zombie horde arrived so quickly?
Soon, no further guesses were needed.
The overburdened building could no longer hold.
The team hurriedly retreated to avoid being caught in the collapsing wall.
Fortunately, only this wall was severely damaged; the section of the hall they retreated to remained intact.
As the entire wall collapsed, the scene outside became vividly clear.
The thick dust kicked up couldn’t obscure the view at such close range.
As the teammate had said, a giant walker, nearly five meters tall, was attacking the corrosive vulture.
One hand gripped the vulture’s right wing, the other its right claw, using its body weight to pin it down.
Clearly, the corrosive vulture was far outmatched in strength.
No matter how fiercely it struggled or how hoarsely it screeched, it couldn’t budge the giant walker.
Away from the sky, the vulture was at its most vulnerable, and this scene was the best proof.
The giant walker was unfazed by the corrosive liquid eating at its body.
Its thick, fatty layer was its best defense.
Pinkish blood mixed with oily liquid oozed from wounds corroded by the liquid, neutralizing its corrosiveness.
“Roar aaah—”
Its gaping maw opened to an unimaginable degree.
Without hesitation, it bit down on the vulture’s long neck.
Black liquid splattered—whether blood or corrosive fluid was unclear.
But with that bite, the vulture’s cries abruptly stopped.
Its body still trembled violently but made no sound.
“Quick! While it’s feeding, let’s move!”
This was a lone giant walker, not part of the zombie horde.
But its danger was undeniable.
An individual unbound by commanding walkers’ pheromones had likely evolved mentally beyond their influence.
This depended on the crystal core’s evolution level.
Tier 2… or… Tier 3? But how could that be!
“But ahead is… Sector 01B.”
Faced with Luo Shi’s decision, a teammate, always obedient, hesitated.
It wasn’t defiance but difficulty adjusting from the shock.
Sector 01 in the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland was far more dangerous than the vague term “central city area.”
It was a true death zone.
Not just Sector 01B—all sectors numbered 01 were the same.
These were the direct impact zones of the war a century ago.
Then and now, they were an unforgettable nightmare.
A single standard “Cataclysm” weapon had unleashed the terrifying power to destroy an entire city.
Horrific pollution, devastating force, rapidly spreading viruses…
These created the desolation of today’s JD Ruined City.
Even a century later, they hadn’t dissipated.
“Do we have a choice? Execute the order!”
Luo Shi’s shout seemed to snap him out of it.
Indeed, at this point, they had no other options.
Surrounded by the zombie horde and numerous high-tier monsters, their retreat was cut off.
Their only path was to keep moving toward the city’s core.
Only a desperate gamble offered a chance at survival.
“Send our last position and information to headquarters. Signal interference in Sector 01 is severe. Once we enter, we’ll lose contact with headquarters.”
Han Nianling handed the communicator for contacting headquarters to Luo Shi.
“Sorry, our team failed to protect…”
Taking the communicator, Luo Shi hesitated, but Han Nianling cut him off.
“I’m the one who should apologize. If not for my obsession, we might have already rendezvoused with headquarters’ forces. Your teammates wouldn’t have died.”
Han Nianling suddenly looked at Luo Shi, speaking deliberately.
“I may feel guilt, but I’ll never regret my decisions.”
“We feel the same. If we feared sacrifice, the security team, even the standing army, wouldn’t exist.”
For the first time, the usually stern and authoritative Luo Shi spoke in a remarkably light tone.
“If we’re fortunate enough to follow Researcher Han and glimpse the mysteries of Sector 01, it doesn’t sound too bad…”