Chapter 1: Monsters of the Dead City

Chapter1: Monster of the Dead City

Southern Huaguo, 2025.

"Damn, where the hell did this thing drag me?"

Chen Jian raised his VECTOR 23 binoculars, staring at the unfamiliar city before him, his whole mind sinking into unfathomable doubt.

Not only him, his teammates beside him wore equally grim expressions.

Communications officer Shen Yue opened the radio once again, trying various frequencies, and finally gave his conclusion.

"All communications with the rear have been cut off, even LF long-wave signals got no reply."

"All satellites are out of contact, including BeiDou and GPS."

"Using a sextant for positioning, calculating by latitude and longitude, we should be about one kilometer outside the Chuansha urban area."

"But obviously, this city is absolutely not the Chuansha we know."

After he finished speaking, Chen Jian slowly nodded.

In fact, making this judgment was quite simple.

Because the city ahead of them was not only impossible to be Chuansha, it couldn't even be any major city they remembered.

The major cities he knew, especially those within the country, could absolutely not be overgrown with weeds and dilapidated like the one before his eyes.

Yet strangely, judging by the surrounding terrain and the Xiang River flowing through, this place was Chuansha.

So what exactly went wrong?

Chen Jian turned to look at the other three teammates; each face bore the same puzzlement.

Clearly, they too couldn't fathom why a simple training march, fine on the way out, had turned chaotic on the way back.

The unfamiliar environment imposed tremendous pressure on Chen Jian, and the only thing giving him a slight sense of security was the 191 in his hands, loaded with live ammunition.

He lowered the binoculars, flipped down the 20-style quad-target thermal fusion night vision on his helmet, carefully observed the city direction for a moment, then said:

"I can't see anything."

"He Shuo, can you see anything on your side?"

Hearing the question, sniper He Shuo lifted his face from the thermal imaging sight, slowly shook his head, and replied:

"Currently no active heat sources detected."

"No lights, no heat sources—this city is simply a dead city."

As his words fell, everyone's heart in the four-man squad gave a sudden jolt.

Each realized the gravity of the problem, yet even under such extreme pressure, Shen Yue managed to laugh.

"I now believe this isn't a conspiracy of the full GZ."

"No matter how capable he is, he couldn't possibly evacuate an entire city."

After Shen Yue finished speaking, the others couldn't help but laugh as well.

Indeed, just a few hours earlier, when they first noticed the signal loss and communication blackout, they had thought it was another sudden opposing exercise.

But now it was clear that was not the case at all.

"So now there are only two possibilities."

The demolition expert Lei Jie on the far side mused:

"Either the enemy attacked during our training and, without us noticing, destroyed a city in 24 hours."

"Or we have time-traveled; this is no longer Earth, or at least not our era—so which possibility seems higher to you?"

"Do we even need to think?"

Chen Jian answered without hesitation, and upon hearing his answer, the others actually breathed a sigh of relief.

They were all highly trained special forces, accustomed to accepting sudden situations far beyond ordinary people.

Moreover, what they feared most was not the unfamiliar environment, but a hopeless dead end.

Obviously, this was not a dead end.

After a brief observation, Chen Jian continued speaking:

"Prepare to approach the urban area, seek valuable human information; we must first grasp the situation."

"I'll take point, Lei Jie provides cover thirty meters to the flank, Shen Yue follows Lei Jie to establish electromagnetic shielding, He Shuo stays a hundred meters behind to observe and follow." "Objective: seize the tallest building ahead, enter quickly, disperse and set up defenses."

"Move out!"

At the command, everyone sprang into action.

Chen Jian held the 191 assault rifle fitted with an HM3X sight; on his back rested a heavy LG-6 semi-automatic grenade launcher.

These weapons were originally meant for live-fire target practice after the march, but now it was obvious the targets couldn't be hit.

Perhaps these arms would have to face a new enemy?

That thought flashed through Chen Jian's mind, then vanished instantly.

He pressed forward, his steps not hurried, advancing while continuously checking the real-time data displayed on the 18-style AR smart tactical goggles to confirm his teammates' positions.

Although all satellite positioning systems had failed, the IFF friend-or-foe system they carried, equipped with a long-wave triangulation module, still showed their approximate location in real time on the goggles, allowing Chen Jian to devote more attention to the unknown zone ahead.

Starting from their previous position, after seven minutes the squad of four slowly advanced to within 500 meters of the target building.

Chen Jian's breathing quickened slightly, and the hand holding his rifle began to feel a faint soreness.

The night vision still showed no usable information; he raised his hand in front of his eyes, made a gesture, and instantly the individual PD, using image recognition, computed the order and relayed it to the teammates' goggles.

The squad's positions shifted silently; Chen Jian moved forward, Shen Yue and Lei Jie spread to the flanks, He Shuo tailed closely behind Chen Jian, forming a spearhead assault formation.

Their pace quickened; after a final check for anomalies, they began to rush toward the target building.

200 meters.

Chen Jian disengaged the safety on his 191 and rushed forward with the rifle.

100 meters.

Chen Jian could already see the building's entrance, the desolate, ruined street laid bare before him.

Lei Jie and Shen Yue on either side controlled the street's sides; according to the preset tactic, he would now breach the door and storm inside.

——

But at that very instant, a sudden loud boom rang out.

"Bang!"

Everyone halted instantly, on alert; simultaneously, the counter-sniper radar automatically identified the sound as not belonging to the four-man squad, and with millisecond speed marked the noise direction on the goggles.

Chen Jian turned his barrel toward the source of the noise; under the thermal-fused night vision, night and day were indistinguishable.

"Something has fallen, 150 meters away in a mid-level residential building."

He Shuo behind him spoke up:

"A large sofa, dropped from the roof."

“There might be someone there!”

“On alert!”

Chen Jian immediately gave the order, his left hand gripping the fore‑stock tightly.

Almost as soon as he gave the command, another barely perceptible faint sound came.

This time, everyone had locked onto the exact direction the sound came from.

But just then, everyone froze in place.

“What the hell is that?!”

He Suo’s startled question crackled through the headset; Chen Jian ignored it, quickly crouched low, finger half‑pressing the trigger, ready to fire.

At the same moment, Shen Yue threw himself to the ground and deployed the tripod of the Type‑201 general‑purpose machine gun.

Everyone realized that whatever was opposite them had to be the enemy.

——

Because it was a creature over three meters tall, its body covered in horny spines, leaping silently and with blinding speed on mantis‑like reverse‑jointed legs, rushing straight at them.

Chen Jian squeezed the trigger and shouted at the same time:

“Fire!”

(End of chapter)