Chapter 331: Sudden Arrival

Chapter 331 – Sudden Arrival

Mountain City.

Lin Yu and his companion had already left the park at the city’s heart; they had hunted enough prey that, by feeding on those corpses, they could survive for at least half a month.

Yet they remained on high alert.

To prevent the metallic scent of the carcasses from drawing the inscrutable denizens of Mountain City, they stored every animal in the basement of a tower far from the lit districts, then sealed the underground chamber, cutting it off completely from the outside world.

They kindled the first bonfire they had tended in days, using it to smoke their food and prolong its shelf life.

Seated before the flames, Lin Yu forced fresh, blood‑rich flesh into his mouth as much as he could.

Their fuel was insufficient to turn all the venison into jerky; it was obvious that, to avoid waste, there was only one solution.

Eat it.

Lin Yu felt his stomach nearly bursting with food; each swallow made the muscular walls of his gut convulse violently.

"Ugh"

Lin Yu tossed the still‑pulsating, almost‑alive deer meat from his hands and addressed the scout beside him:

"I can’t eat any more."

"This meat is absurdly fresh."

"It's been dead for so long, yet it still twitches."

"It won’t come alive inside my stomach, will it??"

"It shouldn’t. It won’t."

The scout likewise set the meat down, answering with difficulty.

"It shouldn’t, right?"

Lin Yu gasped for breath.

He had merely gone on a hunt and taken a few bites, yet his condition felt as if he had endured a great battle.

"It definitely won’t."

The scout replied solemnly:

"Indeed this is a peculiar deer, but its peculiarity has limits."

"Just like you and I—surely you don’t think we could be resurrected by a single piece of meat after we’re slain?"

"Perhaps I’m not even dead, after all."

Lin Yu sighed and said:

"What I mean is, we can’t, but who can say whether this deer can?"

"Do you recall the Mountain City man we killed? His companion extracted something from his skull and carried the corpse away."

"Those people clearly possess a special technique."

"It resembles the Holy Blood Hall’s methods, perhaps even more powerful."

"Or perhaps the Holy Blood Hall’s technology originally came from Mountain City?"

"Impossible."

The scout shook his head:

"Our technology stems from the Imperial Capital, that’s unmistakable."

"Mountain City likely only learned and further developed that technique."

"But now they have evidently surpassed us."

"Exactly."

Lin Yu nodded gravely.

"Those Mountain City folk are as strong as we are—yet they seem more… normal."

"We eliminated that one; he didn’t have two hearts or three lungs, right?"

"I think not."

The scout recalled carefully, then shook his head again after a moment:

"No, his internal organs and skeletal structure were indistinguishable from a normal human’s; otherwise I would have noticed something when I cleaved him."

"That would be terrifying."

Lin Yu rose, wiping the blood‑stained hands on his already grimy, tattered clothes.

An individual far stronger than ordinary men, yet with a body identical to theirs in every anatomical detail—

What does that imply?

It suggests that they may already have mastered a method of stable reproduction.

Thus,

These Mountain City people, in essence, no longer belong to the same species as true humanity.

Their divergence from humans differs from that of the Holy Blooded ones.

Even though they far exceed ordinary mortals in personal power, the Holy Blooded are forever marked as ‘special’ among humans because they cannot procreate, making them no different from naturally robust or exceptionally clever individuals.

But these Mountain City folk?

Once they acquire the ability to bear offspring, they too become fundamentally separate from humanity.

Perhaps that is why they isolate themselves, refusing contact with other humans.

Perhaps they have not launched an outright assault on humanity simply because they do not feel sufficiently threatened.

That explains why the two Beast Tides targeted the strongest forces of the time.

Only such powers could truly endanger their existence.

With that thought, Lin Yu exhaled slowly.

"We must seize the window while Mountain City lies crippled by the nuclear blast to finish our exploration."

He turned to the scout and said:

"Based on the last nuclear explosion, the city should begin to revive in six to seven hours."

"We have three hours left—we must locate the true core of the city before the unmanned machines emerge."

"If possible, we should attempt to go underground."

"Time is short; let’s move."

"Understood."

When Lin Yu finished speaking, the scout sprang to his feet.

Without further words, they ascended the tower’s stairs, returning to the surface.

Even now, the illuminated core that first flickered after the initial nuclear blast lay far ahead, but Lin Yu had no intention of risking a trek toward it.

Because when the second nuclear blast erupted, he saw clearly that several residents of the mountain city had slipped underground through an entrance not far from here.

It was a deep tunnel set into the rock face, less than eight hundred meters away from them.

Crossing a stretch of empty track, Lin Yu and his scout landed on the street that circled the tunnel’s mouth.

The repair marks left by the abandoned machines were starkly visible on the road; the scout walked to the curb, reached out to touch a lamp‑like device, then asked:

“What on earth is this thing?”

“We’ve walked this way for miles, and these contraptions appear everywhere.”

“Even inside the buildings, they’re scattered throughout.”

“It’s clearly not a communications unit, yet it seems vital to the city’s operation.”

“These were the first to be restored. There’s one here that’s still unfinished.”

“Should we dismantle one and take it with us for a look?”

“Even if we take it apart, do you think you’ll grasp its principle?”

Lin Yu glanced at the device the scout pointed to; the fist‑sized, opened apparatus housed a maze of components he had never even seen, let alone understood.

These parts differed fundamentally from the components of radio gear; there were no exposed wires, and though it was evidently powered by electricity, Lin Yu could not fathom how the current coursed within.

“Never mind that.”

Lin Yu continued, “Prepare to enter the tunnel.”

“Stay alert, keep your guard up.”

“Understood.”

The scout shifted his gaze away from the strange equipment, fell in step behind Lin Yu, and headed toward the nearby tunnel entrance.

As they drew nearer to the tunnel, more and more crippled autonomous machines littered the ground.

It was evident that all those machines had begun retreating underground after the air‑raid sirens sounded but before the blast, and those that failed to return in time were shattered here by the shockwave.

“The mountain city runs on these unmanned machines,” the scout murmured.

Watching the assorted contraptions, he added, “The first nuclear blast didn’t greatly impair the city’s capacity to heal; at least we haven’t found massive wreckage of machines on the surface.”

“The second blast was a wholly different matter.”

“What we see here is only a fragment. In the whole illuminated district, the majority of machines that couldn’t evacuate remain.”

“The city’s self‑repair ability has been severely diminished.”

“Perhaps we don’t have just three hours left, but a longer span.”

“No, that’s not right.”

The scout finished, and Lin Yu shook his head, “A drop in repair capability doesn’t mean the mountain people’s reaction time has lengthened—remember? After the first blast, the locals quickly reclaimed control over the monsters.”

“What machines cannot do, flesh and blood can.”

“Thus our foes are likely already prepared.”

“Stay vigilant.”

“If you notice any anomaly, fall back immediately!”

“Got it.”

The scout drew a deep breath, clearing the scattered thoughts in his mind.

He fixed his stare on the distant tunnel mouth, his steps slowing a fraction.

By now the sun had risen high in the sky.

Even though a thick fog clung to the city, sunlight still bathed it.

Yet the tunnel not far away remained a void, as if an invisible barrier at its entrance filtered out the sun’s rays.

“Fog,” Lin Yu whispered.

“The mist inside the tunnel is denser than outside; that’s where it originates.”

“All the fog over this city seeps up from the subterranean chambers.”

“Can you tell whether the fog is poisonous?”

“I can’t discern that.”

The scout shook his head: “It smells like ordinary water vapor—yet there’s a peculiar odor mixed in.”

“I smell it too.”

Lin Yu said gravely, “Visibility is poor in there.”

“I’ll go ahead; if anything happens, I’ll shield you.”

“As always, survive as long as you can.”

“I have a feeling the support from the Huaxia army is about to arrive.”

“At least one of us must live to see them.”

“Understood.”

The scout obediently fell into Lin Yu’s wake; the two slowed their pace and slipped into the tunnel, and the instant their bodies crossed the threshold, a sudden, fierce unease seized them.

A dangerous intuition surged; Lin Yu instinctively halted, scanning the surroundings, but the heavy fog obscured his sight, limiting his view to barely five meters around.

Something was wrong!

“Retreat!”

Lin Yu shouted the warning.

In the next heartbeat,

the fog around them churned, a gust of wind tearing through it, hurtling straight at Lin Yu!

His shirt ignited before the blast of air even reached his chest; in that instant, Lin Yu realized the assailants were the very mountain‑city folk he had once seen.

And they wielded the weapons he recognized from before!

The searing heat forced his muscles to contract reflexively; before his brain could process, his body had already reacted.

With a soaring leap, Lin Yu was flung out of the tunnel.

Beside him, the scout had already drawn his blade, dodging to the side of the entrance, ready.

In the next instant, two dark silhouettes burst from the mouth.

Blades flashed as the scout’s sword slashed toward the nearer target.

"Bang!"

A massive crash reverberated.

Yet it was not the clang of metal!

It was the muffled thud of steel striking supple armor!

The blade failed to cleave; the mountain‑town man's flexible armor stubbornly blocked the strike!

The scout's complexion turned ashen, but before he could sheath his sword and retreat, the mountain man before him had already reacted.

With a heavy, forceful kick he drove straight into the scout's chest, sending the man soaring through the air.

His body traced a parabolic arc and slammed onto the ground; he tried to rise, only to stagger and collapse again.

His ribs snapped.

Moreover, his collapsed chest cavity crushed a heart still pumping blood, obstructing circulation; his whole body drained of strength.

"Can't win! Fall back!"

The scout shouted desperately.

The next instant.

"Bang!"

A gun cracked, a bullet striking his skull dead‑on.

It shattered into fragments.

Death came without warning, and Lin Yu on the other side saw his eyes widen in horror.

Only seconds ago, his comrade had stood alive before him.

Yet moments later he was a corpse worthless even for rescue.

An overwhelming helplessness threatened to engulf Lin Yu, but there was no time for grief.

For the muzzles of those two mountain men now pointed straight at him!

Lin Yu gritted his teeth and surged forward, only to find there was no retreat.

Pushing outward, the space opened wider.

Before those two lightning‑fast, hyper‑reactive mountain men, he could not hope to evade long‑range fire.

There was only one way out.

Back into the tunnel!

The scout's death was not in vain; he had drawn the mountain men’s gaze, exposing a breach between them.

Could he slip through?

Lin Yu spun sharply.

He had no other choice.

Let’s see who’s faster!

He shot forward like a bolt, gunfire crackling behind him.

"Bang!"

"Bang bang bang—"

Scorching bullets whizzed past; the nearest even grazed his shoulder!

Yet he broke through the flimsy line formed by the two mountain men and entered the tunnel’s interior.

He made it!

Their speed was not any greater—

Just on par with his own!

Lin Yu’s confidence swelled as he pressed deeper into the tunnel.

His thought was simple.

This tunnel could not be straight and empty.

It would twist, its terrain would change.

If he could use the terrain, perhaps at the right moment he could turn the two mountain men against each other!

The plan was that simple!

Lin Yu surged onward, the footsteps behind him closing in.

Adrenaline surged to its peak; his vision sharpened.

After sprinting for several seconds, the sunlight vanished completely.

Yet not far ahead a faint glow flickered.

Beneath that light, shadows wavered like vague silhouettes.

A cover.

Right there.

Lin Yu gaped, inhaling sharply.

The moment for counter‑attack was near.

He accelerated again, charging toward the light.

In less than a hundred meters he swept past, arriving before the shadows.

—

But when he saw clearly the jagged silhouettes perched on the heights, he halted abruptly.

It was over.

This was not a cover.

It was people.

Mountain‑town men!

Lin Yu’s hair stood on end.

He was almost ready to meet death.

Yet he soon realized the figures showed no reaction at all.

They seemed to be in a deep slumber.

What the hell is happening?!

—

Who cares!

Lin Yu did not hesitate; he reached out and seized a rifle from one of the mountain men.

It was nothing more than a simple, ordinary rifle.

Perhaps it was merely of a larger caliber.

The bolt was drawn, the round chambered, all in one fluid motion.

Lin Yu aimed toward the tunnel’s mouth, and the instant the two pursuers from the mountain town materialized, he pulled the trigger.

“Bang!”

“Bang bang bang!”

Four bullets flew in rapid succession, and one enemy fell to the ground at the sound.

Without hesitation, Lin Yu swung the barrel, bracing against the searing heat of that strange weapon, and squeezed the trigger on the other man.

“Bang bang bang bang—”

The impact drove the second foe’s head backward, twisting it nearly ninety degrees; he collapsed on his back, his weapon slipping from his grasp.

Yet Lin Yu did not grow complacent.

He simply lifted his gun, walked forward with cold composure, and fired at the still‑living adversary.

“Bang bang bang bang—”

Only when the bullets pierced both men’s flexible armor, and blood began to gush from the seams, did Lin Yu finally cease fire.

Survival after the calamity.

Lin Yu panted violently, his body collapsing as if exhausted, kneeling weakly upon the ground.

It was only two men.

Yet it left him in utter disarray.

These mountain‑town folk.

Are absolutely powerful opponents!

The ones behind him

must also be eliminated!

Lin Yu sprang to his feet, but the moment he turned his head, a faint clatter rang out.

He turned his gaze toward the wavering shadows.

And among the mountain‑town men who had been “asleep”, two of them, at that very moment,

opened their eyes.

(End of chapter)