"Lu Feng!"
Hubbard shouted. He saw Lu Feng's fingers press down on the edge of the cabin door until they turned a bloodless white.
The slightly lowered eyelashes and blank expression seemed to strive to conceal their master's outburst, but the trembling fingers already revealed the entire truth.
Amidst the all-encompassing sea of flames, his voice was hoarse, yet still calm and forceful as he said, "Prepare to attack."
Unexpectedly, the attack was by no means difficult.
In that instant, the monsters' attacks seemed to have slowed greatly. It was as though they had stopped persistently and madly attacking people in search of something, and were just carrying out an ordinary hunt instead.
Amidst this ordinary hunt, some monsters turned around and went in the direction of the Abyss, while others continued attacking the research institute. Of the monsters that had already entered the research institute, more than half of them were killed by the Simpson cage. Then the Simpson cage ran out of power and gradually went out, but the research institute began its counterattack and effectively resisted the monsters' offensive.
As for the monsters in the periphery, they were solidly blocked off outside the line of defense by the PL1109's micro nuclear bombs and heavy weapons—this was the wilderness, so apart from the tiny courtyard on the mountaintop, there was no need to hold back for fear of harming innocents. Just like the time when they flew above the vast flatlands of the Underground City Base, the fighter fleet was truly fulfilling its role here.
The monsters inside were gradually wiped out.
The heavy weapons had built up an insurmountable and smoky line of defense around the research institute. The monsters of the Abyss naturally had noteworthy intelligence. After doing a little thinking, the monsters in the back turned around, retreating in the face of unfavorable odds.
Their arrival was as abruptly tempestuous as a tsunami, and their departure was like the tide slowly receding. Atop this sorrowful mountain peak, two hours later, all was still.
Red, white, all sorts of liquids covered the open space in front of the research institute. At noon, when the sunlight was at its most glaring, the bloodstains glistened.
The PL1109 slowly landed. The human military officers paid Pauli Jones a visit at the white building.
Seemingly bearing no feelings of animosity resulting from the differences between humans and xenogenics, they eagerly asked what exactly had happened earlier. The Highland Research Institute likewise treated them as compatriots. After explaining the stable frequency, Pauli Jones, as the research institute's leader, thanked the Northern Base for its selfless aid.
"How is the base?" he finished by asking.
However, the response he got was silence.
In the suffocating silence, a voice suddenly came from the emergency communication channel.
"This is the Northern Base." Dr. Ji's voice was tremulous. "Hello. Requesting information on the situation."
"This is the Highland Research Institute. Hello," Pauli said.
"The Northern Base… The monsters are falling back." Amidst the crackle of static, Dr. Ji's voice was hoarse. "The people of the base have retreated to the Magnetic Field Center's core laboratory. The number of survivors… is 342, and 136 are seriously injured."
"Air strikes are ineffective, and thermonuclear weapons cannot be used. Requesting light weapons and troops." He gasped heavily for breath, as though he were suppressing something. "The monsters are no longer madly attacking humans, but they still have not given up on taking surviving humans as their prey. We… we are still desperately holding the core laboratory's line of defense…"
Pauli stared silently at the blank screen.
"Are you hurt?" he finally asked.
Amidst Dr. Ji's formulaic tone, his voice finally took on an additional tremor of emotion. "I'm hurt, Mr. Pauli. We've never met, but…"
He didn't finish his sentence. After a hurried gasp for breath, however, he changed the topic. "I have served the base for twenty years and pride myself on my outstanding intellect, but I have not helped the base achieve any breakthroughs whatsoever, Mr. Pauli."
"In the past, I've heard the people of the Northern Base say that you presided over the research and development of the genetic examination instrument. Now, they say that you've extracted a stable solution, which may be why the artificial magnetic pole still has yet to malfunction amidst today's storm of distortion."
"Thank… thank you," Dr. Ji said. "We will defend the magnetic pole until the final moment. But please also… prepare for the magnetic field to disappear… Please… please take care of yourselves."
What followed were only the sounds of disordered breathing.
Amidst the intermittent static, background noise, commands, gunshots, screams, and the sounds of goods being toppled and walls collapsing faintly came through.
It was silent within the Highland Research Institute.
At last, someone asked, "Then… will we still die?"
The PL1109 fleet had brought fire support, but it was limited after all. Supposing the Northern Base had already run out of strength to hold out and the magnetic field that enveloped the entire world still could not escape its destiny of vanishing, how many days would the Highland Research Institute be able to last? There had been endless sacrifices and a stable frequency, but there was still no hope for survival.
Humankind's aspirations were still the full moon in the water.
Nobody replied.
In the deathly silence, the atmosphere was a lump of congealed rotted flesh.
Someone laughed softly, and it was like a knife sliding across the frozen rotted flesh and opening up a mocking cut.
But amidst this deathly stillness, the hissing static suddenly paused, and another unfamiliar voice came through.
"Hello." The other party's pronunciation was choppy, so the syllables could only be distinguished with difficulty.
"My deepest apologies. Our instruments broke down, so we were unable to successfully send anything to the emergency communication channel until now. This is the Underground City Base's command center."
The air was stagnant.
"This is the Highland Research Institute," Pauli replied. "How is the status of the Underground City Base?"
"Everything is well at the Underground City Base," the other party said. "After the collective monster attack two months ago, the base closed its ground entrance and adopted a full blockade mode. Today, the flatland was surrounded by a large number of monsters, but due to our geographical advantages, it was not invaded."
Pauli was slightly moved.
But the other party continued, saying, "The Underground City Base is thankful to the Northern Base for its selfless aid two months ago. We are especially thankful to Colonel Lu Feng, who made the decision to render assistance."
"After learning about the situation in the north, the supplies, weapons, and ammunition that the Northern Base had provided to us were all loaded onto transport planes. The transport plane formation took off from the Underground City Base six hours ago, accompanied by a thousand lightly armed paratroopers, and is expected to arrive at the Northern Base in half an hour to render assistance."
He said, "Northern Base, please persevere for thirty minutes."
There was a noise that sounded like something sliding to the floor. Afterward, the doctor's voice came through, low but very resolute.
"It will be done."
Pauli Jones's voice came through the communication channel.
"The stable frequency has covered the entire world," he said. "Please do not worry about substances distorting."
"Roger." The Underground City Base's operator held back the excitement in his voice. "Although we do not know what you did—thank God, and thank you."
Information kept coming.
"The Northern Base is continuing to defend," a young voice said. It seemed as though someone else had taken Dr. Ji's communicator.
Then came information from the Underground City Base.
"The transport plane fleet has landed."
"To the Northern Base's survivors, please indicate your location."
"Commence the breakout."