An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 241 Abyssal Rift
Abyss Invasion!

These four words made Chu Xiu's brow twitch.

He immediately got up and looked out the window.

Not far away in the sky, a strange, pitch-black crack appeared without warning and was continuing to expand!

"I never expected to run into an Abyss invasion."

But that doesn't seem surprising.

In the eighteen years since his birth, he has encountered one King-level invasion, seven General-level invasions, and countless Ferocious-level invasions from the Abyss.

However, in recent years, the frequency of Abyss invasions does seem to be increasing.

It seems only natural that we've run into each other now.

"Xiao Chu, what are you thinking about! The alarm's so loud, can't you hear it? You think you, a support class, are going to run off to your death?!"

Chu Xiu's Blood Demon clone was slapped hard. He turned around and saw an old worker in his forties wearing a white vest. His teeth were a little black, and although he didn't have big muscles, he gave people the feeling that he was very strong.

Chu Xiu usually calls this man Uncle Zhao. Although Chu Xiu is a warrior-level awakener, his value and status will greatly diminish if he doesn't enter the abyss. Now, in the factory, he is only responsible for the final polishing of the finished products. In reality, he is just a front-line worker with a higher salary. In addition, he is easy-going and has no airs. Although he has only been here for half a month, he has already become one with the workers.

Chu Xiu hesitated for a moment, and Uncle Zhao said, "Let's go quickly. If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. We are still two miles away from the refuge. If we don't run fast, we'll be doomed if a deep abyss creature gets through."

"If you don't run now, I'm leaving!"

Chu Xiu didn't say anything more, but simply followed Uncle Zhao to the refuge.

In reality, the so-called refuge was just a nearby subway station. The space inside had been specially expanded and was used to store a large amount of weapons and food and water. Each entrance had a blast door to completely seal it off.

At this time, nearby residents should be heading there, while lower-level awakened individuals and security personnel will be armed and guarding the entrance area.

In this era, every important building had emergency firearms. For example, the factory where Chu Xiu worked had less than a hundred employees, but it had three rifles and one shotgun. At this moment, all of them had been taken by the security personnel. Chu Xiu looked ahead and saw that the streets were full of people fleeing the disaster.

Fortunately, similar incidents have happened many times before, and there are drills on a regular basis. Although everyone was in a hurry and fear, they did not panic and ran towards the subway station amidst the piercing alarm.

However, just as everyone arrived at the entrance and was about to enter, a man in military uniform suddenly reached out and stopped Chu Xiu.

"Wait, you're an Awakened One?"

Chu Xiu hesitated for a moment before nodding. Uncle Zhao, standing beside him, spoke up first: "Sir, Chu is a support character. He usually just repairs machinery and equipment on the construction site. He can't be of much help!"

The officer glanced at his bracelet. It seemed that the system had sent him a notification after Chu Xiu approached. He acted quickly and immediately retrieved Chu Xiu's file.

"Hmm, although they've reached the Warrior rank, protecting them is definitely more valuable."

Without saying another word, the officer waved his hand and said, "Go down."

"Yes!"

Chu Xiu and the others quickly ran down and soon disappeared from the officer's sight.

"That should be fine, right?"

At the same moment, in a high-class hotel in the distance, Chu Xiu looked down and surveyed the surroundings before withdrawing his gaze.

He had no intention of becoming a hero. The Blood Demon clone couldn't be of much help anyway, so he should just stay put.

As for himself, he would certainly not reveal his identity.

To be on the safe side, he wouldn't even give out an [anchor point], so how could he possibly show himself in public? If some high-level expert who intended to harm him were lurking in Jiangcheng at this moment, he would be in big trouble.

"The army moved quickly; air defense weapons were already deployed, and combat awakeners were on standby nearby."

"If this intrusion is not large in scale, it should be easy to deal with."

"only"

Chu Xiu stared intently into the distance. The crack in the sky was growing larger and larger, and countless dark clouds gathered near the crack. Although there was no lightning, the sound of rolling thunder could be faintly heard from within the clouds, along with a strange and piercing screeching sound.

A dense abyssal aura surged from the rift, which was located about 500 meters above the crowd. It was expanding and contracting, and together with the black clouds that were sweeping in, which were as black as charcoal, it looked like an extremely eerie giant eyeball from a distance!

This scene was unprecedented in previous abyss invasions, and the scale of the rifts was far larger than before!
The common people may not have a deep understanding of it, but the officers below should be all too aware of it. At this moment, everyone is tense, a large number of heavy weapons are being transported to the vicinity, and dozens of armed helicopters are taking off to surround the crevice.

The two eight-barreled rotary machine guns below were aimed at the crack, and specially made white phosphorus incendiary bombs and high-explosive rockets capable of causing mass destruction were all ready to fire at any time.

Just as everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit, suddenly, the crack opposite seemed to expand to its limit, bursting open in all directions during an expansion! At the same time, a large number of abyssal creatures, like baby spiders pouring out of the belly of a pregnant spider that had been crushed, surged out of the crack in a dense, frenzied manner!

"Fire!!!"

Even without orders from their superiors, all the killing machines started operating immediately. More than forty vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft guns on the ground roared at the same time, and dense ammunition belts poured into the sky like tongues of fire!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Instant barrage of fire covered the entire rift. Before the abyssal creatures that flew out of the rift could even be seen clearly, their bodies were shattered by large-caliber machine gun shells! Severed limbs and splattered flesh and blood fell from the sky like raindrops!

Anti-aircraft machine guns and armed helicopters, which had been installed on the building's roof for a long time, also opened fire. White phosphorus incendiary bombs exploded near the crack, instantly igniting hundreds of abyssal creatures nearby! The inextinguishable white phosphorus burned their skin, and they fell from the sky with screams, crashing to the ground and turning into huge piles of flesh.

"Is this the Abyss invasion?"

Chu Xiu, who was observing the battlefield from a distance, couldn't help but show a look of shock.

Although he had experienced a lot since childhood, he had always been able to hide in a refuge and tremble with fear. This was the first time he had witnessed the invasion of the Abyss firsthand.

Suddenly, a massive rift opened, overflowing with dark power that coalesced into a black cloud. In less than ten seconds, tens of thousands of abyssal creatures burst forth from the fissure! Among them were many warrior-level and ferocious-level beings!

This was an extremely shocking scene.

What's even more shocking is that so many abyssal creatures were blocked and killed by modern heavy firepower!

After the end of the Dark Ages, in order to deal with the invasion of the Abyss, every city has troops stationed there, and all important buildings are equipped with modern firepower defense systems. For example, Chu Xiu's school has no less than twelve anti-aircraft guns!

Under such intense firepower, even a ferocious-level creature would be quickly shattered!
but
After the onslaught of fire, the metallic storm of bullets subsided, and the troops began to adopt alternating firing patterns to mitigate the effects of overheating barrels.

As the intensity of the firepower decreased, some high-level abyssal creatures broke free from the firepower blockade!
Although powerful Awakened Ones immediately rushed forward and swiftly eliminated the survivors, Chu Xiu still frowned slightly. This Abyss invasion seemed somewhat different.

“In the past, the abyssal invasions were at their strongest at the very beginning, when the abyssal creatures would swarm out and densely cover the entire rift.”

This is why the army commander would immediately order the entire army to fire at once.

Although the vanguard force was large enough this time, it seemed to have held back compared to the massive rift.

As if to verify Chu Xiu's conjecture, even after half a minute, the number of abyssal creatures emerging from it did not decrease, but instead gradually increased!

On the other hand, the anti-aircraft firepower has been largely depleted, and both the spent ammunition and the overheated barrels will require a longer time to replenish!
More and more abyssal creatures broke through the firepower blockade, spreading from the center of the crack to the entire sky like a locust plague!

"Are we about to engage in hand-to-hand combat?"

Chu Xiu frowned, recalling unpleasant memories.

In the vast majority of Abyss invasions, the military is able to control the situation immediately, and even if some Abyss creatures leak out, the casualties will generally not exceed double digits.

In his memory, there was only one time when things escalated to the point where the entire city fell.

That was the invasion of the King-level Abyss that happened when he was a child. More than 100,000 people died at that time. They survived by sheer human lives until reinforcements arrived.

It was after that that Zhang Qingshan made the grand vow to completely expel the creatures of the abyss.

It wasn't just him; every family shattered by that disaster must have had this thought.

"Will so many people die this time too?" Chu Xiu's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

However, he quickly shook his head and denied it: "No, Jiangcheng's defensive firepower is much stronger now than it was eleven years ago. After the end of the Dark Turmoil, the human world has developed rapidly. Not to mention eleven years, even three years can bring about significant changes."

Moreover, the number of awakened individuals is rapidly increasing. Back then, there were only two king-level individuals in Jiangcheng, but now there are a total of fourteen!

Although most of the Awakened Ones are in the Abyss, it is unknown how many are still in Jiangcheng at this moment, but there should be no fewer than five.

Three King-level beings had already arrived, hovering in mid-air, coldly gazing at the distant rift.

Even with a King-level expert arriving, Chu Xiu still felt somewhat uneasy. He narrowed his eyes, his terrifying eyesight allowing him to see every single hair on the distant abyss creatures even from several kilometers away.

He discovered that only monsters of the warrior rank and above had the ability to fly, but the majority of the mortal creatures did not foolishly fall to their deaths from the sky. Instead, they were covered with a thin membrane of flesh and glided down from the sky like bats.

It was as if this attack had been specially planned.

"Something's not right. In the disaster eleven years ago, the crack opened only a dozen meters above the ground. In the past, cracks mostly opened from the ground! Because most creatures don't have the ability to fly, if they came from such a height, they would be smashed into mincemeat!"

"But if there are countermeasures, creating a crack at high altitude could indeed greatly increase the advantage of breaking through!"

A height of 500 meters will greatly reduce the accuracy and power of heavy weapons, and will allow them to spread throughout the city in an instant, further increasing the difficulty of interception!
Upon realizing this, Chu Xiu's expression became even more serious.

He already had a bad feeling; this invasion of the abyss was definitely not simple! It was probably not something that a few ordinary king-level beings could stop!

Just as Chu Xiu was pondering to himself, an extremely powerful aura suddenly overflowed from the abyss rift!

The three King-level beings guarding the rift all changed their expressions and retreated hastily without saying a word!

Almost simultaneously, three sharp spikes, each as thick as three people could hug, shot out from the abyss rift and landed where the three had originally been!

It seemed the sword missed its mark. Two enormous eyeballs emerged from the abyss, spun around, and then vanished, leaving only a strange, snickering sound echoing in the air.

The sound could even penetrate the roar of artillery fire and reach everyone's ears clearly, making everyone's scalp tingle.

Meanwhile, even more abyssal creatures surged out of the rift! This time, the density of the outflow was several times greater than the initial one, and their elite status was much higher, with even some general-level creatures among them!

Even though the troops below reacted quickly, the situation was completely reversed this time. Even with the continuous firing of high-explosive rockets that could cause mass destruction, it was just a drop in the ocean in the face of such a huge number!
"Tsk, that's troublesome."

Chu Xiu, who had witnessed this scene, had a serious expression. After a moment's thought, he moved swiftly and appeared outside the hotel.

The Garuda Wings were equipped on his back, and with just a few flaps, he traversed thousands of meters to reach the vicinity of the rift.

This powerful legendary equipment is imbued with a trace of spatial power. After being upgraded to the General rank, it can provide Chu Xiu with an extremely exaggerated movement speed bonus, even faster than the Flying Corpse!
His face showed a rare look of inner conflict.

Having observed the battle just now, he quickly analyzed the situation and concluded that this invasion was not a reckless encounter like before, but a prepared aggression!
The enemy knew the army's strategy all along. They first sent out a large number of low-level cannon fodder to consume ammunition, and then launched a large-scale invasion after the firepower density was reduced!

Although Wang Jie was stationed in Jiangcheng, Chu Xiu knew these awakened individuals all too well that they would only "do their best" and not "fight to the death."

“If the situation gets out of control, they will retreat and wait for support from other cities.”

"And it seems that three ordinary King-level Awakeners alone cannot stop an attack of this scale."

"In other words, if I don't intervene, could the tragedy of eleven years ago repeat itself?"

"No, this time the death toll will be higher than eleven years ago! Much higher!"

Chu Xiu stroked his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face.

To be honest, although he was cold-hearted, he wasn't completely indifferent to life.

But the problem is
"Why now?"

Chu Xiu narrowed his eyes.

Why did this unprecedented and unlike any previous abyssal invasion suddenly occur now? Why did it happen precisely after it had attracted everyone's immense attention? Why did the invading creatures clearly have been prepared in advance?

Furthermore, the scale of the abyss invasion was just right—something that even ordinary kings couldn't handle, yet it wasn't beyond his capabilities.

Is it a coincidence, or a trap?

Chu Xiu stared at the massive crack in the sky, a cold glint in his eyes.

"I don't believe in coincidences."

"Interesting. Is someone trying to force me to take action?"

(End of this chapter)