Chapter 285: Cyber Monsters?

Chapter 285 – Cyber Monster?

The fighting within the base was drawing to a close.

Yet the battle across the entire front showed no sign of ending any time soon.

Yu Qian kept close behind Chen Jian, rifle 191—newly issued by Chen—trained on every target his eyes could catch, while Chen swept the battlefield, rallying the scattered reserve troops back into formation.

“All of you, gather around me!”

“The mountain ape has been eliminated; what comes now are only ordinary small monsters!”

“Re‑establish the defensive line!”

“Huang Yu! Where is Huang Yu?!”

“Commander! I’m here!”

Huang Yu hobbled over, his injured leg limp, and Chen Jian furrowed his brow, asking:

“How bad is the wound?”

“Just a sprain, nothing serious!”

Huang Yu’s face twisted; it was clear his injury was far from what he claimed.

Earlier, Chen Jian had watched him charge at the mountain ape with only a rifle in hand—luckily he missed a direct hit and was merely flung away by the beast’s casual swipe.

Otherwise, when Chen called out now, Huang would probably be lying on the ground in response.

“You stay at the base and organize ammunition resupply transport.”

“Front‑line consumption is exceeding expectations; I’ll activate the buffer supply point and send ammo there!”

“Understood!”

Huang Yu did not press his luck; he knew this was the most suitable arrangement under the circumstances.

“Fuxi, open the main gateway, ready the supplies and weapons; load and dispatch in five minutes!”

“Copy that.”

Fuxi’s voice crackled through the headset as Chen Jian stared at the shifting tactical map in his smart visor, issuing further orders:

“Huang Meng, flank to the southeast!”

“Four high‑speed giant monsters are there; the buffer may not hold—go help them!”

“Got it!”

Huang Meng’s hoarse voice came through the ear‑piece, and instantly the tank icons on the map pivoted their course.

Under the rapid barrage of a dozen cannons, nearly half of the dozens of large monsters charging head‑on were already wiped out; most of them never even reached the first line before layered fire struck, pierced them, and shattered them to fragments.

Yet a portion of the beasts broke through to close range, only to be smacked squarely by the pre‑positioned tanks and bombers.

Compared with the swarming locust‑like small monsters, this batch of giants seemed oddly feeble.

Their numbers were few, while the shells were countless.

Once they crossed the death line Chen had drawn, no matter how swift they were, they could not outrun the dense, almost omnidirectional hail of artillery.

Chen Jian waited in silence a moment, confirming that after the tanks shifted the line still held, then issued a fresh command without delay.

“All reserves, follow me to the airfield for preparation.”

“Lei Jie, Jiang Yu, ready for landing!”

“Copy, we expect to touch down in five minutes—confirm?”

“Landing in five minutes!”

Chen Jian repeated the confirmation, then led the reserves sprinting toward the airstrip.

At that moment, the runway was littered with monster corpses, strewn haphazardly—each felled by fixed‑weapon turrets.

By sheer density, the number of monsters on the airfield far exceeded that of any other sector.

This meant the small monsters were being guided by some force, deliberately targeting Base 011.

Upon reflection, the beast‑horde’s tactics were strikingly complete and “professional.”

On the front lines, massive “armor clusters” soaked up the enemy’s heavy fire; swarms of agile, numerous small units broke through the defenses under acceptable losses, then the elite units led by the mountain ape pierced the core for a decapitation strike, while it shepherded the surviving conventional units to wreak havoc behind enemy lines.

If I were the one pulling the strings, I’d probably serve up a dish almost identical to this. Thus, the notion that a hidden hand commands the beast tide has, as of tonight, been irrefutably proven.

The next step is to locate that puppeteer and raid his house outright.

Chen Jian drew a deep breath, directing his men to haul the corpses and patch the large bullet‑punched craters with haste.

Within minutes the runway was essentially repaired; Chen sent a signal skyward, and Lei Jie’s bomber glided down lightly.

Soon after, Jiang Yu touched down without trouble.

“Swap the batteries, load the air‑missiles—no, load the nuclear warheads!”

Lei Jie panted, then spoke:

“I circled the perimeter and saw reserve forces still holding back there.”

“The monsters number far more than we anticipated; the large ones number in the triple digits, perhaps even hundreds, and the small ones are invisible to the eye, certainly far beyond a few thousand.”

“Xuan Cheng has been completely devoured; the whole city lies in ruins.”

“The surrounding towns fare no better——you must inform He Shuo and have him ready for response.”

“Han River is another crucial node; countless beasts will pour through there. If all else fails, evacuate the people from that spot.”

“Take refuge in the mountains; that should keep you safe. Most of Xuan Cheng’s civilians have already fled uphill, and a good portion should survive.”

“Understood.”

Chen Jian, while directing the transport of warheads and batteries, pressed on with another question:

“How’s the front holding up?”

“We can hold; the line is firm and won’t break for now.”

Lei Jie took a sip of water Jiang Yu handed him, spat, and said:

“But these monsters clearly aim to wear us down; they’ve calculated our limited ammo supply.”

“Perhaps they even know we possess a nuclear trump card, which is why they haven’t thrown all their forces at us in one blow.”

“Cunning—extremely cunning.”

“We must devise a decisive strike to smash their command hub.”

“Or at the very least, fire a few nukes and try to shatter their control network.”

“Copy that, we’ll act on your suggestion.”

Chen Jian nodded gravely, while Lei Jie continued:

“What’s the status of the base? And that mountain ape—dead? What is it?”

A barrage of questions left Chen momentarily speechless; after a pause he finally answered:

“It’s dead—not an ordinary monster.”

"I finally fucking understand why Zeng Yi said it could kill thousands of people overnight—it’s been artificially enhanced."

"Its body is clad in flexible, man-made electrochromic armor, blocking nearly one hundred percent of infrared signatures, and it’s also coated with radar-absorbent material. Our smart fire-control system can barely lock onto it."

"What's more, this damn thing might even have a brain-computer interface wired into its system."

"I don't mean a run-of-the-mill interface, either. I mean a mature one with both full input and output capabilities."

"This is a certified, cybernetically augmented monstrosity. True cyberpunk style."

"Fuck, is it really that extreme?"

Lei Jie stood frozen in sheer disbelief.

"It is exactly that extreme."

Chen Jian exhaled a heavy, ragged breath before continuing:

"Our enemies are far more powerful than we anticipated, and they haven't even shown their full hand yet."

"But the silver lining is... in terms of pure, unadulterated killing capacity, we aren't lagging far behind them."

"No matter how formidable that mandrill is, it can't withstand a crucible of molten iron."

"If the other side can pull another creature like that mandrill out of their sleeve, we'll just have to break out the thermite bombs to teach them a lesson in humanity."

"Alright, take off."

"Bomb whatever needs bombing. Let's show them what real power looks like!"

(End of Chapter)