Chapter 99: Linwu
The night was dark as ink, utterly swallowing the rolling hills east of City.
After an arduous journey and clearing operations along the way, of the , led by , finally reached its predetermined target—the outskirts of .
However, what greeted them was not the anticipated outline of an abandoned city or a howling gray tide, but a deathly still, slowly flowing dark red .
" , what's going on now?"
stood atop an infantry fighting vehicle, binoculars raised, his brows knit into a knot.
Through the lens, the red fog looked like congealed blood, completely enveloping the city below the hillside—not a single glimmer of light or shadow of a building showing through.
The entire city was cut off behind this enormous blood-red curtain, and within that curtain lay an unsettling unknown.
City, the capital of , bordered four other cities.
To the north was ; to the northwest, ; to the southwest, ; and to the east, .
abounded in mines—it not only boasted the nation's largest iron mine but also held reserves of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, coal, and more. It was a typical mining city.
It possessed a complete industrial system for mining and smelting. If it could be fully recovered, it would undoubtedly be of immense benefit to the 's development.
The further purging and recovery of was the responsibility of —formerly the force—led by .
's chief advantage was its location. Before the disaster, it had handled vast amounts of cargo distribution and transshipment, making it a large-scale logistics hub with excellent transportation links to the outside.
As for to the southwest, its defining trait was also mining—rare earth mining, specifically. Its thorium reserves were very abundant.
Though it was hard to put them to effective use right now, at least if they ever wanted to build molten salt reactors in the future, thorium would be the last thing to worry about.
Expansion toward was in the hands of , led by .
As for to the east, for the as it stood now, it held exactly one significance.
That was the First Manufacturing Base of Linwu Heavy Industry Group—an enormous whose core business was land-based mobile platforms and heavy precision forging.
It was also the optimal choice for attempting a factory relocation, as set down in the original plan.
If the relocation of its core key equipment could be pulled off smoothly, then 's of building the would probably be completed outright.
The people responsible for this job were , led by .
In fact, the shortest route to was straight through District.
However, given the unknown aberrations and enormous monsters in District, choosing that route would have been a bit too much like overestimating one's own strength.
So they had no choice but to take a detour, which greatly increased the length of the journey.
Just when and his team, having cleared small fry the whole way, had finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel and were about to reach their destination—
the red fog enveloping the entire city loomed toward them in the beam of their lights, and all they felt was their vision going dark.
Come on—they had fought their way all the way from City in one push to get here. Don't tell them the finale was going to be a boss battle!
[I don't know.]
's voice sounded right on cue, equally grave.
[All remote detection in the optical, thermal imaging, and electromagnetic bands is completely blocked.]
[Of the six drones sent in for reconnaissance and fog sampling, five lost contact about thirty seconds after entering the fog's range. Only one made it back.]
[But it didn't find anything. The fog severely suppresses the drones' visibility.]
[The only thing we can be certain of right now is that there's something in the fog—and it's quite aggressive.]
Hearing this, felt his teeth ache a little.
"Then what do we do? Rest up here for the night and plan tomorrow?"
It was already late. The team had been fighting at high intensity the entire way, and neither their minds nor their bodies were in peak condition—clearly not suited for launching an assault right away.
[I agree,] 's voice remained steady. [The situation is unclear, so we shouldn't rush in blindly. Posting guards and resting in place is the wise choice.]
"Then it's settled." turned and walked back toward the convoy, issuing orders through his as he went. "All units, attention! Set up camp here. Vehicles in circular formation. Kill the headlights, keep only the low beams."
"Sentries rotate in three shifts. Weapons never leave your hands."
The orders were passed down quickly.
More than a dozen armored vehicles and heavy trucks formed a temporary circular defensive position, dark gun barrels and machine-gun muzzles pointing in every direction.
The ten robots accompanying them also stepped into motion, spreading out beyond the perimeter to stand watch, their spherical cameras rotating soundlessly, scanning every inch of the darkness.
Unlike anywhere else, the night outside was eerily quiet.
The covering the city rolled soundlessly, yet showed no sign of spilling outward, as if restrained by an invisible wall.
Even stranger, on the outskirts of this area, not a single wandering or could be seen.
Beyond the city lay only a clean, dead stillness.
Watching this obviously abnormal nightscape, felt his coolant run a little cold. This was clearly not a good omen.
...
The next day, the morning sunlight pierced through the clouds, yet it still could not disperse that eerie dark red fog.
It remained crouched there like a thick sea of blood, and beneath that sea's surface lurked monsters eager to devour anyone who drew near.
"Sleep well?" jumped down and greeted a passing team member.
"Not bad. I just kept feeling a chill at my back." The man smiled wryly.
"Tch!" laughed and scolded. "Have some spine. We've got rocket launchers with us. Worst case, we put a round into it. What's there to be afraid of?"
"We can't compare to you, !" The team member laughed, dodging the flying kick, and headed off to wash up with his cup in hand.
turned around as well, casually tearing open a pack of compressed biscuits. He crouched beside the tank and started eating, chewing as he spoke to the air.
"I wonder if the tank's armor can hold up against whatever's in that fog."
As the of an operation squad, he had to face the unknown with the worst in mind, with completing the mission as the number one priority.
[No rush. It hasn't reached the point where we must risk our own skins,] 's voice sounded. [I'll conduct the first round of contact reconnaissance myself.]
[This time, I'll send an entire cluster of Soldier Bees in at once, breaking in from different directions and altitudes. At the very least, we have to figure out the source and method of the attacks.]
"Mm, then it's up to you. We can support at any time." nodded. This was the safest approach.
However, just as was about to mobilize the drone cluster lurking nearby, his "vision" caught a trace of the abnormal.
[Wait—new discovery!] 's voice suddenly rang out.
"What's wrong?" was instantly on alert.
Almost at the same moment, the on watch at a high point also reported in: "Report, Captain! Seven kilometers to the northeast, a convoy is approaching the red fog zone!"
was taken aback. "Our reinforcements?"
"No! The vehicle models are wrong. They're all heavy trucks—a dozen or more—moving toward the fog zone!"
Hearing this, stuffed the half-eaten biscuit into his pocket, then bounded onto the nearest armored vehicle in two or three strides, grabbed the binoculars, and looked to the northeast.
Sure enough, at the edge of his field of vision, a convoy of more than a dozen heavy trucks was driving unhurriedly along the ruined road, straight toward that dark red haze.
The trucks were in mixed condition—some had clearly been modified, with steel plates and guardrails welded on.
What drew 's attention even more was the cargo they carried.
The beds of the front trucks were piled with food—case after case of instant noodles, canned goods, bottled water. Judging by the packaging, they looked as if they had been hauled straight out of a supermarket warehouse in bulk.
And in the beds of the rear trucks, what appeared to be corpses were tied into bundles with hemp rope, stacked layer upon layer like cargo.
"There are people inside that fog?" A team member let out an incredulous murmur. "And they're hauling things in?"
This scene filled everyone on the operation squad with a powerful sense of dissonance and absurdity.
Living people were shipping supplies and... corpses into a red fog that clearly had something seriously wrong with it?
What was that about?
was equally baffled. If the drones hadn't precisely captured the image, he, too, would have found it hard to believe such a surreal scene before his eyes.
"Are they living people?" asked with a frown, his tone heavy.
[Thermal imaging shows the organisms in the cabs have normal body temperatures—between thirty-six and thirty-seven degrees. At least they're probably not ,] 's thoughts raced, and he immediately added,
[But they might not be human either. They could be some other kind of humanoid monster. All things considered, don't let your guard down. I'll go probe them first.]
made his decision quickly.
No matter what they were, behind such abnormal behavior there had to be key information about this red fog. That made them worth communicating with.
...
On the road, the dozen-plus heavy trucks were advancing steadily at a uniform speed.
Three hundred meters ahead lay the boundary of the dark red .
But the people in the convoy were clearly old hands at this—they showed no intention of slowing down, nor any trace of wariness.
Until a dense, droning hum descended from overhead.
"Buzz—"
More than a hundred laser drones surged in from every direction, precisely sealing off the convoy's front, back, left, and right.
"Enemy attack!"
A piercing cry exploded through the convoy's internal intercom.
"Screech—"
Immediately after, harsh braking sounds rang out one after another as the dozen-plus heavy trucks ground to an emergency halt, and the people in the convoy instantly plunged into chaos.
"Clatter!"
Window after window was cranked down, and dozens of automatic rifle and shotgun muzzles poked out, trembling as they aimed at the black specks drawing ever closer in the sky.
"Who's there?!"
From the cab of the lead truck, a man in his early thirties shouted in challenge.
His hair was cut in a short , and a healed-over knife scar ran across his left cheek, giving him a rather fierce look.
But at this very moment, his face was slick with cold sweat.
After all, though he didn't recognize the laser emitters under these drones, he could instinctively feel the immense danger they posed.
"May I ask what business you have? If it's supplies you want, everything we have can be handed over—just spare our lives."
Watching the huge swarm of drones that had appeared out of nowhere, everyone in the convoy held their breath, cold sweat streaming down from their temples, nearly forming little rivulets.
They weren't naive enough to think these drones had come solely to say hello. People that naive didn't survive to this day.
On the other side, once again swept his drones' vital-sign scanning module across every person in the convoy.
Normal body temperature, heart rate slightly elevated... by physiological indicators, these were exactly the readings of humans in a state of high tension.
Having confirmed that, he sent a greeting through the speaker of the lead drone.
[Hello there!]
[We are the under , the refuge established by the authorities in City, . We are preparing to carry out a rescue mission here.]
[Please put down your weapons and submit to inspection.]
Official?
Hearing the word, the scar-faced man's movements paused for a beat.
"Official?" He looked the sci-fi-styled drones up and down, a flicker of suspicion in his eyes. "What official? Why should we believe you?"
Having lived through the apocalypse for this long, they had long since stopped expecting any government to still exist, nor would they easily believe one-sided claims like this.
He had seen survivor groups that flew the government's banner to swindle and deceive, luring people in until they became slaves, cannon fodder, or even food.
But he still didn't act rashly—the strength the other side had shown was far too terrifying.
A drone swarm of this scale and technological level was clearly not something his convoy could contend with.
[Whether you believe it or not, we really are an official rescue force,] 's voice maintained an unhurried rhythm.
[No need to be nervous. I just want to ask you a few questions.]
[Where did you come from? Where are you going? Why are you driving into the red fog?]
[How much do you know about the current situation in ? Is your base in ?]
Hearing this, the scar-faced man exchanged a look with the person beside him.
Their expressions suddenly turned very strange—not fear, not hostility, but pure bewilderment.
As if they had heard something utterly preposterous.
"Wait," the scar-faced man raised one hand, muzzle pointed down, and asked back with a frown. "What did you just say? What fog?"
was taken aback for a moment, then continued.
[The dark red three hundred meters ahead of you. The fog covering the whole of .]
The scar-faced man turned to look ahead.
Then he turned back, but the confusion on his face hadn't lessened in the least.
"You serious?" His tone even carried a note of caution, as if he were speaking to someone whose mental state was off. "There's no mistake that is ahead, but..."
"There's no fog at all!"