Chapter 129: Anti-Ambush

Chapter 129: Counter-Ambush

As Xie Liu uttered the three words "blood skull," the atmosphere instantly grew tense.

Everyone pulled back the bolts, disengaged the safeties, and raised their muzzles, aiming at the civilians ahead who were likewise armed.

The drone rose, and Li Shi also stepped forward, crouching like a shield in front of Chen Jian.

The battle had reached a hair-trigger point; any extra motion by anyone would unleash a rain of iron from the bullets, sweeping everything away and plunging the situation into an irredeemable abyss.

The woman kneeling on the ground kept weeping, and from her fragmented words Chen Jian roughly grasped the outline of what had happened.

Monsters, blood skulls, the abducted women, prolonged comas, swollen bellies, the merchants who came to trade.

Everyone here could actually guess the truth.

They surely knew that those "merchants" were responsible for this tragic outcome.

But they were powerless to resist.

The women could only hand over the children in their wombs to the merchants, exchanging them for grain, tools, and daily necessities for the town.

As for the fate of those children, they did not know.

Could those who did such a thing possibly have any pity for those infants?

Death was the likely outcome, and that is precisely why that woman wanted to give her child to Chen Jian's squad.

Perhaps in his view, this convoy was at least a normal one.

Of course, it was also her last hope.

A nameless fire rose in Chen Jian's heart.

If discovering that Huadu was a city fallen to drugs had merely touched his bottom line, what they were doing now truly ground his bottom line underfoot.

This gang of scourges had actually sunk to this extent.

Using living people as their "seedbed"?

Why don't you do it yourselves?

He turned his head to look at the other teammates; their expressions were no different from his.

Obviously, everyone had already put the name "Huadu" on the list.

As for when that name will be crossed out,

it's probably the sooner the better.

Quan Cheng seems not far either.

Chen Jian had made a silent decision, but at this moment the problem they faced remained unsolved.

He reached out, pulled the kneeling woman to her feet, and then asked:

"You know what the child you gave birth to is, right?"

The woman staggered, first shaking her head, then nodding desperately.

She could no longer utter a word.

She knew that from the moment this child was born, his fate had already been sealed.

She ought to have accepted this result, but maternal instinct prevented her from making up her mind.

This is probably one of the weaknesses Huadu can exploit.

Seeing her action, Chen Jian drew a deep breath and then asked:

"You said those merchants—when will they come?"

"I don't know, but they come at least once a month."

"The last time they came was just a few days ago."

"They took away several children, one of them my sister's child."

"My sister, my sister chased after them but she never came back."

The woman's voice was almost drowned by sobs, and Chen Jian whispered in comfort:

"Stay calm."

"I will help you."

"Now tell me, where are they coming from?"

"I don't know."

"Think hard! Which direction?"

Chen Jian's attitude was stern; he knew the other's mind was in turmoil, and at this moment consoling or encouraging would be useless.

Only by showing enough strength could he restore her reason.

And sure enough, after a moment of hesitation, the woman finally replied:

"Northeast. The northeast side!"

"That most likely is Anqing."

Beside him, Shen Yue interjected:

"The Yangtze waterway may not be very busy, but it's still crowded and mixed."

"Huadu would never risk doing this by water."

"They likely established a suggested transport network centered on Anqing, enveloping all the scattered settlements around."

"This place is still a hundred kilometers from Anqing, yet it has already been ruined to this extent."

"Getting closer to Anqing, tsk tsk."

"My greatest hope now is that Anqing has more than just terror demons."

"It would be best if they threw in some Huadu folks; otherwise I can't vent this anger."

"If that's not possible, we can also surround a point and strike aid."

Chen Jian said slowly:

"In short, they must pay a price."

"Let's not talk about that—Zeng Yi, go over and communicate, explain the situation to those people."

"I don't believe the men here are all weaklings, with their women defiled like this, that they'd still treat us—who are trying to stand up for them—as enemies."

"Understood."

Zeng Yi, hearing the command, lowered his gun and walked straight toward the panicked crowd opposite.

After a moment, everyone half-believing, half-doubting, lowered their weapons.

And when they, led by Zeng Yi, approached the squad, Chen Jian also gained more information from their mouths.

Huadu's experiments had actually begun long ago.

These women were not the first victims; in fact, some had fled from the more eastern Wangjiang Town!

They thought leaving that town would let them escape the grasp of Huadu, but only two years later, that grasp stretched ever longer, reaching as far as Susong.

Why not resist?

That question spun in Chen Jian's mind, but what came out of his mouth was another question.

Has anyone resisted before?

And from one of the men whose face was covered in scars, he received the answer.

He had once joined the residents of Wangjiang Town in resistance, but the numerous terrors almost wiped them out.

Clearly, the people of Huadu had already begun to grasp how to control the blood skulls.

Perhaps they started by controlling the high‑intelligence blood skulls.

Chen Jian recalled the words spoken by the monster of Wushan Lake before its death.

"We are about to succeed."

What success?

Succeeding in turning the loose collective of blood skulls into a powerful clan?

Chen Jian clearly sensed that the Huadu people were brewing a great conspiracy.

And the key to unraveling the mystery lay in Anqing.

They had to get there quickly, without a moment's delay.

Chen Jian made a swift decision and said:

"We are leaving immediately."

"Your problems will be resolved, although we cannot guarantee they will be solved instantly, but you can also make some changes."

"If another merchant comes and you think they are not strong, do not hesitate—kill them."

"Do not worry about retaliation."

"We can guarantee that before we return, they will have no energy to retaliate against you!"

Good.

The scar‑faced man took the bullet from Shen Yue’s hand, a flash of resolve in his eyes.

Chen Jian hesitated not, waved his hand, and the squad sprang into action.

The two cat‑cars continued eastward, and this time their target headed straight for Anqing.

Two hours later, the squad arrived at Wangjiang Town, the scar‑faced man’s mentioned place. Chen Jian had planned a brief rest there, to gather some intel, but upon seeing the lifeless town he realized it was already too late.

No trace of the living remained; the air reeked of decay.

The more sensitive‑nosed Ji Xing had already furrowed his brow, while Chen Jian ordered everyone to don respirators; those without, like Zeng Yi, covered their mouths and noses with thick cloth as makeshift masks.

Immediately, the squad entered the residential zone, and a horrifying scene unfolded before them.

Scattered across the road lay many corpses, most already rotting, some reduced to bone.

And the reason they are described as scattered is that hardly any corpse remains intact.

Towns attacked by the terrors reveal the monsters’ blood‑loving nature in full; they are no longer merely torturing victims, but treating human bodies as detachable playthings.

Numerous skulls piled in a huge wicker frame, with fragments of skull and hair strewn around it, as if someone had flung heads into the basket for amusement.

Femur bones were thrust upside‑down into the soft ground, stacked like firewood, while the ground bore marks of burning and dripping grease.

Rotting innards bred a nauseating fungal carpet on the walls; birds swooped in to peck at maggots falling from the walls, tilting their heads back to swallow eggs mixed with human flesh and blood.

Chen Jian felt nauseous, wanting to vomit.

He was no stranger to genuine battlefields.

During past combat missions, he had watched a large‑caliber howitzer blast a few armed drug traffickers into bloody mist.

But war, after all, is war.

The disgust evoked by pure slaughter could never match what he saw before his eyes.

He exhaled softly and said:

"There are no living people here."

"The settlement’s value has been drained; they likely killed everyone to destroy evidence."

"Let’s go—don’t waste time here, head to Anqing, there—"

"Abnormal heat source! Abnormal heat source!"

Chen Jian’s words had not finished when the drone overhead suddenly issued a warning.

"Enemy attack!"

He shouted.

The squad instantly went on alert; Zeng Yi and Xie Liu leapt onto the roof, Li Shibu stepped forward to stand beside Chen Jian, while the others quickly released their weapons’ safeties, taking advantageous positions to cover every possible attack vector.

Only Ji Xing reacted a beat slower; after everyone was in place, she followed Xie Liu’s example and jumped onto the roof.

At that moment, Chen Jian, from the drone’s feed, saw the incoming foe.

"Terrors!"

"Not few in number!"

Chen Jian ordered in a low voice:

"Everyone withdraw from the urban area and block the nearby roads."

"Xie Liu and Zeng Yi stay inside the town to keep drawing the enemy’s attention."

"We will encircle them here and annihilate them all!"

"Understood!"

Without hesitation, everyone in the squad sprang into action.

Ji Xing followed closely behind Chen Jian, asking in surprise:

"What are you doing? With just a few of us, how can we encircle them?"

"These terrors number at least several dozen and still have weapons!"

"They are not water ghosts; they are far smarter!"

"If you can’t fight, just watch!"

Chen Jian offered no further explanation, instead leaping onto a cat‑car and using its high mobility to swiftly seize the predetermined encirclement point.

At the same time, the others took their positions in turn.

Five of them opened a gap on the north side, where the numerous terrors launched their attack.

"Bang!"

The first gunshot rang out, but it came not from Chen Jian’s squad, but from the terrors.

Zeng Yi had long spotted the firing position; taking cover, he calmly fired a short burst from his 191 at the shooting terror.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The enemy collapsed at the sound, and meanwhile more gunfire erupted from the north.

Bang bang bang bang—

Boom!

Accompanying the gunfire was a dull explosion; the terrors hurled grenades toward Zengyi's position, then roared excitedly as they charged at him and Xieliu.

Having gone too long without tasting carnage, this band of terrors stranded here had gone mad.

Under the dense hail of bullets, Zengyi and his companion could not hold back for a moment, only dodging continually, luring the terrors deeper into the residential district.

Chen Jian calmly observed their positions; when He Shuo confirmed the last enemy had entered the ambush circle, he patted Li Shi on the shoulder and then said:

“Go!”

Li Shi sprang into action at once.

Although the wound on his leg had not fully healed, his movements were in no way slow.

The two advanced, one ahead of the other, into the city; Li Shi's 301 heavy machine gun roared, spewing bullets that nearly tore apart every obstacle before them.

Meanwhile Chen Jian, holding a 191, used Li Shi's body as cover, methodically picking off the terrors with precise single shots.

What? Heavy armor units have no advantage in urban combat?

What if my armored unit were humanoid?

“Li Shi! Watch the right!”

Chen Jian shouted, and Li Shi swung his muzzle.

At the same moment, Chen Jian moved forward, deployed his weapon rack, and used the 201 squad machine to suppress the attackers coming from the left, utterly shattering their melee attempt.

The smell of gunpowder spread through the air, gradually overpowering the original stench of rot.

Chen Jian and his partner kept moving, joining the other three as they converged toward the center along a star‑shaped contracting route.

At that moment, Xieliu and Zengyi had already escaped using cover, but they did not retreat south; instead they looped around to the rear, blocking the terrors' final escape route.

Gunfire rang from all sides; the terrors, their minds clouded by bloodlust, finally felt fear.

They frenziedly hurled every explosive they had, yet before the loose formation created by individual cooperation, the grenades' damage was paltry.

Every terror that tried to break out of the encirclement was pinned down; when they finally gathered in an open space at the heart of the residential district, attempting a final desperate mass charge, Chen Jian issued a new order.

“Throw grenades!”

In an instant, seven grenades were flung out simultaneously.

And what they threw were genuine 82-2P1 defensive grenades!

Boom! Boom!

After the deafening blast, fragments swept across, mist of blood hung in the air, and only a few terrors remained clinging to life on the open ground.

The squad opened fire, picking off each terror until all were slain.

The gunfire fell silent for a moment, but just then the drone sounded an alarm again.

“Abnormal heat source!”

Chen Jian looked in the direction the drone indicated; the sleeve‑arrow missile on his weapon rack had already deployed.

The next second.

Boom!

A monster that had leapt high into the air was struck down from above.

Its corpse was torn apart before it even hit the ground.

Blood rained down; Ji Xing, who had not lifted a finger the whole time, stared open‑mouthed.

That monster

Its strength might not reach that of a tier‑four monster, but its speed was already on par with his own.

And the ambush it had painstakingly prepared was thwarted in an instant.

Not even a ripple was raised.

(End of chapter)