Chapter 47: Whack-a-Mole

Chapter 47: Whack-a-Mole

The squad's straight-line distance from the ordnance NCO school was about sixteen kilometers, which meant that the most important target point of this reconnaissance operation completely overlapped with the activity range of that third‑tier monster.

Every step toward the target meant great danger, so Chen Jian had no intention of conserving equipment power; as soon as the squad moved out, the two drones began uninterrupted reconnaissance, keeping the aerial view unbroken.

Yet what surprised Chen Jian was that after an hour of continuous surveillance, despite the drones' maximum 25‑kilometer radius and powerful night‑sensing capability, no trace of the monster appeared.

Theoretically, this should not happen at all.

After all, a monster fifteen meters tall ought to emit an infrared signature that is glaringly obvious; even if new vegetation had sprouted in the city to obscure it, it could not possibly be completely hidden.

Even stranger, the large target was nowhere to be found, while numerous small contacts appeared—mostly wildlife—and Chen Jian even spotted a herd of deer grazing in the green spaces at the city’s center.

“The biological resources here are abundant—so are these monsters just living off these things?”

Hearing Chen Jian’s words, Xu Lie shook his head and replied:

“No monster is purely carnivorous; at least from the information we now have, they eat anything—some even chew on stones.”

“That said, they mainly eat meat, and they have many hunting methods.”

“Some monsters even build their own dams to trap fish in the water.”

“Others keep herbivorous livestock penned, waiting for the numbers to grow before devouring them.”

“Is this still a monster?”

Chen Jian stared, mouth agape, and asked:

“We never said monsters lack intelligence; they simply lose human habits as their bodies change.”

“In fact, this is also why monsters have such strong territorial instincts—if another monster invades their domain, they could truly starve to death.”

Quite reasonable.

Chen Jian silently calculated that a wild Siberian tiger’s territory is roughly 500 to 1,000 square kilometers, whereas this third‑tier monster’s domain is about 4,000 square kilometers; taking into account hunting success rates and omnivorous differences, the Han River ruins ought to be just enough to sustain it.

Following this line of thought, the monster should prefer to operate in areas rich with food.

Chen Jian opened the map the drone had just built, marking several dense forest zones where infrared signals were concentrated, intending to fly the drone lower for a closer look.

But at that very moment, He Shuo, who had been watching the drone’s video feed, suddenly issued a warning.

“A large number of abnormal heat signatures have been detected 1.5 kilometers away, moving fast and heading straight for us!”

“It doesn’t look like ordinary wildlife; it resembles a small monster!”

Chen Jian immediately opened the video feed, cross‑referencing the coordinates from the INS navigation system, and quickly realized that the squad was still about six hundred meters from the planned Observation Point 1; continuing on the current course would likely put them right in the path of that monster squad.

So he gave the decisive order:

“Descend from the Wujin Dyke overpass to ground level, enter the eastern residential district, and take position on the rooftops for observation!”

“Understood!”

At the sound of the command, everyone sprang into action.

At that moment, Xu Lie once again grasped the importance of “information.”

Why did the Mechanic God Sect’s hunting operation fail before? Wasn’t it simply because they lacked information?

If we could act like those Chosen Ones—responding instantly to danger, avoiding monster detection and unnecessary clashes—then with our firepower we ought to be able to take down that monster without too much trouble.

So perhaps the Chosen Ones’ strongest equipment isn’t the guns and cannons in their hands, but the iron bird soaring in the sky—that drone.

Following Chen Jian’s lead, the group quickly exited the highway, entered the residential area, and scrambled up the buildings.

There was no activity of the Blood Skulls here; the apartment interiors held only a few small wild animals, birds, and bats—nothing else.

Eight people reached the rooftop without incident, and at that very moment the small‑sized monster that He Shuo had detected was sprinting past the street beneath their feet.

Chen Jian lifted his binoculars; under the dim moonlight veiled by mist, he could clearly see the creatures’ forms.

They were certainly not ordinary wildlife, yet they did not resemble the mantis‑like killing monsters he had seen in Chuansha City.

Their outward shape still retained a considerable degree of human features, but their muscles and bones were markedly different, mutating toward a quadrupedal crawling adaptation.

All the monsters bore huge tumors on their backs; at the center of each tumor was a tiny tubular opening that continually contracted as they ran fast, looking utterly repulsive. “What the hell is this??”

Chen Jian asked aloud.

“I don’t know, but it feels like the ‘mole rats’ recorded in the earlier scout logs.”

“If that’s the case, we’re in danger.”

“When the mole rats appear, the real monsters aren’t far behind.”

“Why didn’t you say that sooner?!”

Chen Jian snapped irritably, and Xu Lie answered with a guilty expression:

“I had no idea this thing actually existed! Nobody knew whether it was real or not!”

Saying that now is pointless; Chen Jian immediately gave the order:

“Everyone, fall back to the ground at once, find solid cover, and prepare to engage!”

“Now?”

Xu Lie asked, astonished.

“What else? If the monster shows up, we’ll be trapped on the roof waiting to die?”

“Haven’t you seen a bear climb a tree? When you meet this kind of monster, the higher you go, the faster you die.”

Chen Jian’s tone betrayed clear dissatisfaction, but he also knew this wasn’t Xu Lie’s fault.

Objectively, the other side didn’t possess much more information than he did.

Being able to issue a warning after roughly identifying the monster type was already a decent performance.

After all, it comes down to a difference in professional expertise.

These people fundamentally lack a concept of systematic combat and cannot discern the varying importance of intelligence.

At this level, no amount of physical prowess will help.

No time to dwell; Chen Jian immediately led the squad in a withdrawal.

As they descended the badly weathered stairwell, he kept an eye on the condition of that small monster contingent.

But soon, the very thing he most dreaded happened.

The mole rats halted less than two hundred meters from their building, hesitating as they paced back and forth in circles.

The tumors on the mole rats’ backs split open like the petals of a man‑eating flower, exposing fleshy lobes to the air; viscous fluid streamed down their backs and dripped to the ground.

Then, the mole rats slowly turned around.

The fleshy lobes on their backs fell still, except for those pointing in the same direction, which continued to flutter.

The direction those lobes indicated was precisely the building where Chen Jian and his team were stationed.

Chen Jian felt a sudden tightness in his chest.

He knew exactly what this thing was for.

That tumor is a colossal olfactory organ; they are surely gathering airborne pheromones, and if they detect anything abnormal, they instantly relay the message back to the true monster.

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