Chapter 68: Water Source War
On the bank of the , battle erupted in an instant.
Dozens of "water ghosts" surged out of the dark red river water, their fleshy appendages sliding at high speed across the mudflat, charging straight for the purification equipment that was still running.
"Open fire!" calmly issued the order.
Behind the temporary fortifications that had already been prepared, gunfire roared.
Bullets precisely tore through the water ghosts' translucent, sac-like bodies, sending green fluid splattering in every direction.
But the monsters behind them remained undaunted, pressing forward through the hail of fire.
Fortunately, at that moment, the support team led by had already arrived from the rear.
Several infantry fighting vehicles lined up in a row, 30mm autocannons firing simultaneously, each shell sending up a spray of blood mist.
Finally, the water ghosts' assault was suppressed.
Yet the monsters seemed endless.
More water ghosts emerged from the middle of the river, and even larger "flower crocodiles" were mixed in among them, roaring as they charged toward the shore.
The battle immediately fell into a stalemate.
***
At the same time, an abrupt change occurred at the true heart of the storm — the .
Through the surveillance UAVs, could clearly see those dozens of enormous fleshy flowers now convulsing violently at a frantic frequency, madly spewing an alarmingly dense red smoke into the air.
The entire lake surface seemed shrouded in a layer of blood-red fog.
Then, from the lakebed came a dull rumble like a heartbeat.
Thump——!
The entire surface of the reservoir suddenly sank, and then the dark red lake water churned outward as if boiling. A massive spherical structure slowly rose from the lakebed, looking like a giant flower bud.
It was over thirty meters in diameter, its surface covered in layers of wrinkled, pulsating red membrane-like tissue. Countless thick tubular structures hung from the bottom of the sphere, connecting to the sprawling fungal mat network that covered the lakebed.
This was the true form of the " "!
[High-energy reaction! Attention, this is a monster!] warned and the others, who had come to support, in time.
"Everyone, attention!" 's pupils contracted, and he shouted without hesitation: "Inject the ! Prepare to engage the enemy!"
When dealing with monsters suspected to be third-stage or higher, this was part of the emergency protocol.
"Open fire!" 's voice was somewhat distorted from excitement.
The infantry fighting vehicles' autocannons spat out angry tongues of fire, the missile pods on the Robots' shoulders emptied their full payloads, and the " " hovering high in the air locked onto its target as well.
A deadly barrage of dozens of missiles and shells instantly engulfed that "giant flower bud" on the verge of blooming.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Violent explosions detonated across the Mother's surface, splattering thick, sticky red tissue in every direction.
However, when the smoke cleared, although the Mother had been blasted full of craters, its core "flower bud" structure had not suffered fatal damage. Instead, it was writhing and healing at a visibly observable pace.
But , , and the others were not discouraged. When it came to monsters connected to those " ," difficulty was entirely within their psychological expectations.
Without much deliberation, immediately ordered an increase in firepower, and also directed the swarm into the battle. A fiercer assault instantly engulfed the colossal monster.
If it has thick HP, then pour on damage like crazy — that was 's only combat philosophy.
But just then, on the riverbank battlefield, another change occurred!
The river surface fogged over.
Then, a piercing hum suddenly came from downstream. The entire river surface seemed to boil, churning up strange waves.
In the surveillance feed from the supporting , a huge, flat, dark red shadow was racing upstream at an astonishing speed!
It was like an enormous carpet spread out across the water. Wherever it passed, whether water ghosts or mutated creatures, everything was instantly devoured and dissolved.
Even the river water behind it was rapidly returning to clarity at an inconceivable speed!
"What... what's happening?!" and the others stared in shock, even forgetting to continue attacking.
For something to make the river churn like that, just how enormous was that thing?
[Warning! An unknown high-threat is suspected to have joined the battlefield. Everyone, immediately fall back to a safe distance and attack from there.]
The moment he saw this monster, felt like his reactor had nearly exploded.
He recognized this monster — the thing that had devoured the " " in the . At this very moment, its body had grown even larger.
Why had it appeared in the river? And why only now?
Watching the direction the monster was heading, instantly realized — its target was the " " in the reservoir.
At that moment, felt a chill surge through his reactor core. If this thing devoured the "Mother" in the reservoir, the consequences would be unthinkable.
wasn't that far from the power station!
[Urgent notice, the situation has changed!]
[Attention, riverbank forces: abandon the purification equipment, pull back the defensive line, and use all firepower to intercept that 'carpet' in the water!]
"Roger!"
However, whether it was the UAV's lasers or the micro-missile bombardments, they all seemed utterly negligible landing on that "red carpet," completely unable to stop its advance.
It was too big, and its body was too terrifyingly tough.
Watching that "red carpet" draw closer and closer to the reservoir dam, 's consciousness rapidly swept through all his available assets.
Finally, his gaze settled on the 's towering black bulwark — the four " " short-range air-defense plasma cannons that emanated a faint blue glow while on standby.
[ , I need you to do something!]
***
Before the reservoir dam, the battle had nearly reached a desperate end.
The " " seemed to sense the threat from its own kind and grew increasingly frenzied.
It stopped tangling with the shore's gunfire, its massive body beginning to crawl toward the dam. Countless thick tentacles extended from the fleshy flower bud, viciously lashing against the concrete dam body, sending large chunks of stone flying.
Boom! Boom!
The dam let out an overburdened groan as cracks spread.
"Hold the line! Push it back!" 's eyes were bloodshot as the 105mm rifled gun roared without cease, but the effect remained limited.
Shells and missiles rained down, blasting off the tentacles clinging to the dam one by one.
But new tentacles kept growing back, as if they could never be finished off.
On the other side, the downstream "red carpet" had already arrived outside the dam. Between the two stood only this teetering marvel of human engineering.
At this moment, everyone on the dam heard the sound of concrete cracking. A bone-deep despair rose from the bottoms of their hearts.
But just as the fleshy tentacles were about to shatter the dam, two low hums sounded simultaneously.
Four blazing blue plasma orbs shot out from the four muzzles on the southern high ground.
Two rounds passed over the dam's crest, tracing dazzling blue-white arcs, and struck the flower bud body of the monster in the reservoir with pinpoint accuracy.
Boom——!!!
That dark red organ, which had pulsed for who knows how many days, instantly vaporized under the high temperature of the blue-white plasma, and even the membrane tissue on the upper half of the sphere was reduced to ash in the explosion.
[Ding! Detected the 's kill of ' ' x1. gained: 5,000.]
[Ding! Received special drop blueprint: x1.]
[Ding! 3: — Completed!]
[Mission Rating: Average.]
[Reward calculation in progress...]
[ gained: 12,000.]
[Unlocked ' ' x1, full-series blueprints x1.]
System notifications rolled out one after another, but 's attention at that moment was entirely on the outer side of the dam — the impact point of the other two plasma rounds.
The instant the blue-white orbs sank into the water, a steam column over ten meters tall shot into the sky.
The massive shadow underwater was hit directly by the plasma, and the high temperature instantly vaporized the tissue on its contact surface.
A low-frequency shriek, muffled and almost earthquake-like, came from beneath the water, and the river surface churned violently.
The shadow began to retreat.
Seemingly afraid of follow-up attacks, it retreated faster than it had arrived, dragging a channel of boiling white steam behind it and vanishing into the deep waters downstream in the blink of an eye.
On the distant high ground, , who had rushed over at full speed with the four turrets, leaned limply against the oversized truck.
"Thank goodness! We made it!"
At the critical moment, using the already-unlocked [ ], had urgently unload the cannons, mount them on an ultra-large flatbed truck, and transport them over.
Fortunately, they made it in time. And fortunately, even though they hadn't killed it, they had managed to scare the monster off.
Because in truth, they had no next plasma round left — the temporary power lines had already burned out from overload.
[It's all right now. Good work, everyone.]
's steady electronic voice, like an injection of sedative, flowed into the nerves of everyone present.
That heart-stopping low-frequency shriek from the riverbed had faded into the distance, and the frenzied monster assault had completely collapsed.
Everyone relaxed all at once, sitting or collapsing onto the ground, gasping for breath. The relief of having survived washed over them like warm tides, drowning their senses numbed by battle.
"Thank goodness... it's finally over..."
tossed aside the long-empty rocket launcher and plopped down on the ground, his voice hoarse.
He looked up at the battered yet still-standing dam not far away, a smile uglier than crying twisting onto his face.
"At least... we held the line..."
However, fate did not seem inclined to give them much time for reflection.
Just then, a teeth-grating, unending crackling sound suddenly came from within the dam!
"What's going on?!" had just scrambled to his feet, stumbled, and nearly fallen back down.
Everyone's expression changed drastically, and they all turned in unison toward the dam.
There, on the already battered concrete dam body, spiderweb-like cracks were spreading at a visibly insane pace!
Eroded by the " 's" roots and battered by successive barrages, this massive structure bearing hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water had finally reached the end of its life.
Boom——!!!
An unprecedented roar, as if the sky itself were falling.
In the center of the dam, a huge breach several meters wide burst open! Steel rebar twisted and snapped, and tons of concrete fragments flew out like cannonballs.
Under everyone's despairing gaze, the turbid, dark red reservoir water was about to transform into a catastrophic flood, surging out through the breach!
"Run——! Run!!!"
's shrill scream was drowned out in the deafening roar of the water, seeming utterly insignificant.
She grabbed the team members beside her and ran desperately toward higher ground.
It's over!
That was the only thought in the minds of everyone present.
They had fought with all their might and driven back the monsters, yet in the end, they could not overcome this unstoppable force of nature.
The flood crest would inundate everything downstream within hours, including the they depended on for survival.
All their efforts would turn to nothing.
stood blankly in place, staring at that apocalyptic scene. The color drained from his face, and he had even forgotten the instinct to flee.
But the flood did not rush out. At the breach, it was stopped by an invisible force, as if an air wall stood there.
At the same time, a gentle, familiar voice sounded in everyone's ears.
[Don't be afraid! I told you, it's all right now.]
The instant the words fell, light bloomed before everyone's eyes.
On that grand dam on the verge of collapse, every concrete slab peeling away, every steel rebar snapping, was enveloped in a soft blue-white halo.
Then, under the gaze of everyone who could not comprehend, an inconceivable scene unfolded.
Those collapsing structures did not continue to fall. Instead, within the halo, they... disintegrated into countless specks of light finer than grains of sand.
Then, those specks of light rapidly converged, extended, and interwove, beginning to construct an entirely new structure in a way that defied everyone's understanding.
A dark golden metal structure, several times wider than the original dam, broke through the riverbed and grew upward at an inconceivable speed, sinking deep into the mountainsides on both banks.
Then, hexagonal components over ten meters to a side, gleaming with metallic luster, materialized out of thin air, then fitted together perfectly like building blocks.
They dovetailed seamlessly, stacking rapidly from bottom to top, forming a colossal arc-shaped bulwark, slightly convex on the outward side and brimming with futuristic sci-fi flair.
In just a few breaths, that teetering old-era dam, along with all its debris, had transformed into a brand-new super dam full of science-fiction wonder.