Chapter 79: New Variety

The anti-aircraft guns roared incessantly, mixed with the launching sounds of multiple rocket launchers, yet not a single shell struck the target. The giant worm moved with terrifying speed, resembling a white phantom streaking across the sky. Despite its colossal size, it was impossible to lock onto.

"Ah!"

Whether provoked by the barrage of artillery fire or not, a breath of white frost erupted from the creature's maw, directly engulfing an anti-aircraft gun below. In an instant, both the artillery piece and the soldiers stationed beside it were transformed into ice sculptures!

"Scatter! Do not bunch up! Spread out, quickly!" an officer roared at the top of his lungs upon witnessing the carnage.

There was no need for him to shout twice; the soldiers on the ground were already scattering frantically, scrambling for cover. Having retreated all the way from Yangcheng, this was not their first encounter with such colossal monstrous worms. Although they stood no chance in a direct confrontation, they had figured out a few ways to survive.

Chief of Staff Han stepped down from the tour bus with a pale complexion. He no longer dared to order the vehicle to move; if such a massive target continued to roll along, it would undoubtedly become the giant worm's prime prey.

"Running away? Get back here! All of you, get over here and protect the bus!" Seeing that every single soldier had fled, Chief of Staff Han turned ashen with rage, his voice trembling with fury as he bellowed. Alas, no one paid any heed to his commands anymore. His authority had long since evaporated amid his groveling and sycophancy toward the pampered young masters and misses.

No one obeyed the Chief of Staff, and everyone forgot to load or fire their weapons. They could only watch helplessly as the giant worm wreaked havoc above the convoy, each of its dives claiming at least two or three lives.

"Let it kill. Let it kill. Sooner or later, it will have its fill," an officer muttered, pressing down the barrel of a soldier who was raising his rifle, his voice laden with profound helplessness. Conventional weapons were utterly useless against this kind of monster. Enraging it further would only result in even more deaths.

At that moment, the giant worm in the sky suddenly circled around, its hideous head aligning precisely with the top of the tour bus. The terrifying aura caused even the furious Chief of Staff Han to shudder. He shrieked in absolute terror, his voice cracking, "Oh no! Young Master Chu, get out of the vehicle! Run, hurry!"

Simultaneously with the Chief of Staff's frantic cries, the Awakeners inside the bus sensed the terrifying pressure as well. One by one, they shattered the windows and leaped out. Among the five privileged youths, two jumped clear—Xu Ruobing was one, and another was one of the three young men. However, the pampered Young Master Chu, whom Chief of Staff Han cared about so deeply, failed to emerge!

"Whoosh!"

A flash of white light cut through the air. The giant worm swooped down directly onto the roof of the tour bus, its massive jaws gaping open to clamp onto the vehicle. With a ferocious wrench and a violent toss, the heavy bus was flung away like a mere toy, soaring dozens of meters through the air before crashing into a hillside with a deafening explosion.

"No! Young Master Chu!" Chief of Staff Han shrieked in horror as the massive bus vanished from his sight so abruptly. Even at a moment like this, his mind was still consumed by the safety of Young Master Chu, making him quite a remarkable specimen of sycophancy.

Having vented a significant portion of its violent temper by hurling the bus, the giant worm flicked its tail, swept up three or four more unfortunate souls, and soared away into the distance with a piercing, high-pitched screech.

Watching the beast depart, the survivors collectively let out sighs of relief. The feeling of helplessness, of being mere livestock awaiting slaughter, was utterly crushing.

"Young Master Chu! Young Master Chu, are you still alive?" While the rest of the survivors were still paralyzed by the trauma of cheating death, Chief of Staff Han scrambled on short, rapid strides toward the battered, half-crushed tour bus, calling out in a voice full of hopeful anticipation.

"Thud, thud-thud!"

After a brief moment of silence inside the wreckage, a faint tapping sound emerged.

"Ah! Young Master Chu is still alive! Quick, come and help me pry open the door!" A radiance lit up Chief of Staff Han's gloomy face as he began shouting frantically.

The bus must have been nearly out of fuel, as such a violent impact had failed to detonate it. Of course, one had to admit that the fellow named Chu possessed extraordinary luck to survive such an ordeal. Aided by several Awakeners, they managed to pry him out of the twisted wreckage shortly after. Miraculously, he had sustained only minor injuries.

The other two passengers were not nearly as fortunate. The male had been crushed by the deformed chassis and died a horrific death, while the female still clung to a breath of life, though she was grievously wounded and unable to utter a single word.

Death was far too common an occurrence in this apocalyptic era. The survivors did not even have the luxury of burying the fallen before the vanguard of the spider monsters arrived. They hastily forced down their grief and panic, plunging straight into a new round of slaughter.

Meanwhile, Shen Lie had run into a crisis of his own!

Luck was a truly baffling thing. When he and Xia Ke had swaggered down the paved road on a motorcycle, they hadn't encountered a single monster. Yet the moment he decided to exercise caution, dismounting and carefully picking his way on foot out of the small town, he was instantly targeted by over a dozen spider monsters.

Had they been ordinary arachnids, Shen Lie wouldn't have cared if there were twenty or thirty of them. However, these dozen-odd creatures were entirely out of the ordinary, including a new variant he had never laid eyes on before!

Among the spiders, three were not the usual dark brown, but a sickly green. Furthermore, these green monsters lacked the standard markings on their backs; instead, they possessed a pair of wing-like appendages. Once unfurled, these appendages granted them the ability of low-altitude flight!

It was precisely the presence of these three green flyers that had compromised the stealth of Shen Lie and Xia Ke. The pair had originally been navigating through alleyways and hugging the corners. Upon discovering the spider tracks, they had ascended to a rooftop, knowing that these creatures generally disliked climbing buildings—a tactic Shen Lie had successfully used to evade danger when he first arrived in Dongfeng Town.

To their dismay, the situation had changed drastically. The emergence of flying green spiders meant that the moment they reached the rooftop, one of the airborne monsters spotted them, instantly plunging them into a desperate battle for survival. Fighting and retreating, the two had unknowingly backed themselves into an abandoned courtyard.

The attack pattern of the green spiders was largely similar to that of the ordinary ones, both utilizing blades of light emitted from their front claws. However, the blades generated by the green variants were emerald-green and possessed far greater lethality. Shen Lie could not tell if these green arachnids possessed ranks like the others, but he knew for certain that their destructive power far exceeded that of standard double-striped spiders.

Moreover, these green monsters possessed a ranged attack capability. After a brief period of gathering energy, they could spit venom shaped like arrows. This venom was hideously corrosive, capable of eating through metal, flesh, and even chewing deep craters into solid concrete!

"Here they come! Watch out for evasion!" Shen Lie gripped his black spear tightly, his eyes locked on the three green spiders hovering in the sky. Noticing one of them suddenly glowing with an ethereal green luminescence, he immediately dropped into a ready stance to dodge. This was the unmistakable precursor to the monster's venom discharge.

Although warned by Shen Lie, Xia Ke could only crouch in a corner and shiver. If Shen Lie failed to hold the line, her fate would be death.

"Pfft!"

The glowing green spider made a retching motion, and a beam of emerald light shot forth from its mouthparts like a sharp arrow, hurtling directly toward Shen Lie's head. Simultaneously, all three green spiders broke into a coordinated dive, lunging straight at him in unison!