He demonstrated the strange posture of the monster as it traveled by foot, his voice trembling slightly. “I had a gut feeling that it must be very dangerous. I've dealt with monsters for many years and rarely saw this kind… that would make me feel so threatened. Similar things had been recorded in the mercenary handbooks and field guides, all of them fearsome.
“I couldn't take any risks. If we attacked it, perhaps everyone in the team would have died. I didn't know how quickly it could move. If we hastily retreated, it was very likely that we wouldn't have been able to escape at such a distance. I also couldn't warn everyone. If there was movement from our side, it may very well have charged over at high speed," Tang Lan said. “But I was sure that it was charging toward us."
At that point, he took a deep breath. “I didn't have a better alternative."
Pauli asked, “What did you do?"
“The storage compartment door was within my reach. I took out forty pounds of fresh hybrid meat, still bloody, and went in a different direction. Across from me, there was also a mountain," Tang Lan said.
“Monster meat that's undergone the hybridization process has various genes, so it's extremely alluring to monsters," Pauli said.
“That's right, we often used hybrid meat as bait," Tang Lan said. “It was lured in, and I slowly led it in a different direction. After walking for approximately twenty minutes, it began to speed up. I knew with just one look that it had figured out my strength and was preparing to immediately dash over and attack. At this point, we were far away from the camp. I sent them the communication signal to immediately withdraw, then put the meat down and went toward the opposite corner."
“Unfortunately,” he said, “it ate very quickly and had no plans to spare me. I carried a gun with me at all times, but I couldn't drive it off at all."
“Later… I changed into this, and I knew that I could never return to the base again." His face was slightly pale as he bowed his head. “But my teammates should've safely withdrawn—at least I hope they did."
“They're definitely safe now.” Pauli gently patted his back. “You were very brave, child. You have the qualities of a hero."
For some reason, that sentence made Tang Lan smile. Then his gaze turned sad.
“Our captain and I were friends for many years, but I always left without bidding farewell. It was the same this time too,” he said. “We probably can't see each other again. This time, there's no place where his individual heroism can be exhibited."
The reinforcements from the Northern Base had arrived at the Highland Research Institute.
The heavy weapons were on the planes, and with Colonel Lu in command of the aerial fighting, the remaining light troops used large hang gliders to reach the ground. They dispersed in an orderly manner to sweep up the monsters that had attacked the research institute.
Hubbard was in a large open space to the right of the research institute, and behind him were steep cliffs. The scarlet triangle sign erected on the edge of the cliff read, "Slippery slope, do not approach." The main part of the research institute obstructed the majority of his vision. After a small monster was killed by a heavy machine gun, there were no more enemies in the area.
The reason why he came here was because he had looked up into the sky during the skirmish earlier.
A bout of bloody and confused combat was taking place in the sky. A huge monster died and fell to the ground, and when he looked up, he saw a black human figure in midair.
No, not a human. He had a human body, but sprouting from his back were a pair of massive jet-black wings, one of them broken. It was a xenogenic.
When he glimpsed the figure, it was also falling, so it only existed in his field of vision for a single brief second.
But this brief second made his soul go blank.
"Where are you going?" his teammate shouted at him, but he did not hear it clearly. It was like that voice was coming from a faraway place.
Then he rushed frantically to where that person had fallen.
It was a neglected place, with tangles of vines and waist-high weeds growing wildly. On the surface, nothing could be seen, and behind it was a cliff.
His gaze was cold as he stepped in, heavy machine gun in his grasp. Pushing aside the vines, he looked everywhere amidst the waist-high grasses.
A gasp that seemed like an illusion seemed to travel to his ears. He whirled around, but all he saw was the grass swaying in the strong wind.
"Is anyone there?" he shouted.
The gasping seemed to intensify, and the sounds of movement came from over his right shoulder.
He looked in that direction, but his gaze abruptly froze.
A thousand meters away, to the left rear of the research institute building, where the wind turbines were located. Several three-armed turbines were spinning furiously in the strong winds.
At this very moment, several snow-white tentacles covered in thorns had climbed up the turbine towers and entangled the rotating shafts at the centers of the turbines. The tentacles were sturdy and strong, and the rotations of two of the turbines had already ground to an eventual halt.
But the monster's goal was not limited to that, for the thorns and tubercles on its tentacles were standing upright. Hubbard had spent the greater part of his life in the wilderness with his team, and as a battle-seasoned veteran, he knew that that was an expression of the monster's building strength. It was about to uproot the turbines.
The heart of the skirmish was in the open space in front of the research institute, so it was doubtful that anyone would notice the distant turbines. Furthermore, the color of the thing was incredibly similar to the turbines themselves.
Of course, the most important reason was—there was no time.
The third turbine stopped spinning.
The tentacles were already trembling with exertion.
The importance of these turbines was not very clear to Hubbard, but he could imagine it. The research institute's communications equipment and scientific research facilities—including the apparatus that the red sea of flames An Zhe had just walked into depended on—all needed large amounts of power.
He unloaded the large hand-held uranium bomb launcher from his back and took aim. Few individual soldiers could make nimble use of this weapon. It had plenty of firepower, but its weight was terrible, which made aiming extremely difficult, and the recoil could pulverize an ordinary person's shoulder.
Hubbard knew the vital points of tentacle-class monsters very well, but the research institute building severely hindered his aim, and the vital point was not exposed.
He drew back.
All of his thinking and decision-making were done within three seconds of seeing the monster. He drew back, one step, then another step.
The wind got louder and louder. Within a few short seconds, he had already passed the "do not approach" sign. He glanced backward, seeing the endless sky, and then looked down. He was only one step away from the cliff's edge, and the ground beneath his feet was swaying slightly. There was a clicking noise, as though a pebble had tumbled down.
Just a little bit further. The place where he could kill the monster while not destroying the building and turbines was just a little bit further.
He had never thought about wanting to be a hero. But he still took another step back.
There were more sounds of earth and rock loosening.
The crosshairs of the scope lay right over the monster's vital point.
The type of launcher in his hands had ample penetration, firepower and range.
"Bang—"
The tremendous recoil propelled him backward, the edge of the cliff trembled, and the already-loose rocks fell like an avalanche.
The wind whistled in his ears as he flew backward and began to fall.
His vision was filled with the magnificent daybreak. The sun leapt out from one side of the mountains, and the dazzling golden light struck his retinas. Just after this fleeting moment, another figure appeared from above the cliff and leapt down toward him.
A few drops of blood landed on Hubbard's cheek.
As though he were dreaming.
He reached out—
Tang Lan grabbed him with a hand that was pale from blood loss.
Shadows covered the sky, and bloody wings sprang open. The mountain wind blew eastward. Blood had soaked through the clothes on his chest, and he lacked the strength to fly back up. He simply grabbed Hubbard and glided down on the wind like the paper planes he had folded when he was young.
Hubbard looked at his eyes.
Tang Lan's eyes were still as handsome and chilly as before. There were two scratches on his cheek, and they were oozing blood.
Tang Lan, looking at Hubbard as well, smiled.
There seemed to be much in Hubbard's eyes. He could see it. He wished to ask why he was here and what he had experienced, and he wished even more to ask why he would sacrifice his own life and fall from the cliff along with him.
Tang Lan simply smiled and held Hubbard's hand even more tightly. Hubbard responded to him with the same amount of strength.
All that remained in the world was the howling wind. They were falling toward an unknown destiny, but there was nothing to fear.
"You became a hero once," Tang Lan said. "I'll do the same."
In the distance, the mountains sprawled out.
The rising sun gushed forth.