Armor-piercing bullets don't believe in carbon-based monsters

Chapter 158 Level Monster
At this time, Chen Jian did not know that the Mechanicus in Jinling City had also begun to mobilize, but from Huadu's actions, he could probably guess that the Mechanicus and the Holy Blood Temple should be able to respond.

The situation became more chaotic, but on the other hand, the more chaotic it was, the more beneficial it was for his team.

Regardless of the purpose, if these two forces can beat the dog brains out, their efficiency in taking advantage of the situation will be much higher.

What did you say?

The bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish.

Therefore, Chen Jian did not spend much time tracking the developments in Jinling City, but just headed straight for the Jinling ruins.

After 16 hours of marching and two rest stops, the eight-man team had reached the outskirts of the Jinling ruins.

According to the plan, they will take a final rest here, and then enter the ruins for a close reconnaissance to collect information about the second-level monster.

It was late at night. Chen Jian dug out a smokeless stove and lit a pot. He put the ingredients he had collected from trading along the way into the pot and made a big stew.

The fire warms the chest, but the wind makes the back cold.

After taking a sip of hot soup, Chen Jian sighed with satisfaction.

But looking at his actions, Ji Xing seemed to be hesitant to speak.

I want to speak but I dare not, I want to laugh but I dare not.

Looking at her expression, Chen Jian asked curiously:

"What's wrong? Is something wrong?"

Ji Xing waved his hand and coughed:

"No. It's just that your definition of food is a little beyond my expectation."

"What do you mean? You think this is not tasty?"

"Can this thing be called delicious?"

Ji Xing was speechless:
"The ingredients are actually pretty good, including dried meat, rice, flour, vegetables, and even seasonings."

"But can you tell me how on earth did you come up with the idea of stewing all these things together?"

"Your technology in every aspect is very advanced, and the knowledge you possess is beyond my imagination, but is your processing of food so crude?"

“Conditions are limited.”

Chen Jian answered awkwardly, while Shen Yue at the side mercilessly exposed him:

"Forget it, I'll just accept the dish."

"Our former kitchen staff could stir-fry sugar color with a broken engineer shovel. You are just lazy."

"During the training, the special forces of 195th were our partners. They even knew to boil the bird eggs when they got them. Have you forgotten that you tricked me into eating them raw because they were sterile eggs?"

As soon as he said this, Chen Jian also became tough.

"Bird eggs are sterile. You're a medical student, don't you know that?"

".Whatever you say is what it is."

Shen Yue was too lazy to pay attention to Chen Jian and just focused on dealing with the sticky substance in the bowl.

Chen Jian rolled his eyes. He Shuo on the side found it funny and said:
"Actually, our current combat mission is not that urgent. I'll cook for you from now on."

"I'm tired of eating porridge all day long."

".really."

Zeng Yi and Xie Liu also agreed with this, but Li Shi remained silent and just ate his meal.

Seeing that there was no other food, Ji Xing also gritted her teeth and drank two bowls of porridge. After she was full, she spoke again:
"Your team is actually quite special."

"Why is it special?"

Chen Jian asked.

".I can't tell."

“But sometimes I feel like you guys don’t have any goals.”

"Some of the people struggling in this wasteland are trying to survive, some are trying to become a local overlord, and some are trying to spread their own doctrines."

“Although I am different from them,

“But you are incomprehensible.”

“Your desires are low.”

"You don't pursue enjoyment, and even take sleeping in the wilderness as a common thing."

"Look, even though your team members are not satisfied with the 'food' you made, they ate it without any disgust."

"That's because you've never eaten the steamed buns that were soaked in the swill bucket."

Lei Jie drank the last mouthful of noodle soup and said jokingly.

".Have you eaten it?"

Chen Jian asked in astonishment:

"What year did you join the army? How could you run into something like this? Wasn't it forbidden to mistreat new recruits in our time?"

".I was forced to eat it by the instructor during military training when I was in school."

".Reasonable."

Chen Jian gave Lei Jie a thumbs up, and the latter waved his hands helplessly, indicating that the past did not need to be mentioned again.

But thinking of what Ji Xing had just said, he suddenly spoke again:
"In fact, it's not that our desires are too low, nor that we don't pursue things like enjoyment."

"It's just that once you've seen the ocean, you'll never be impressed by the puddles again."

"It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality."

"If you had really been through what we went through, you would probably be in the same state as us."

"I have seen too many good things, so I don't like the so-called good things here."

"Unless one day, we can completely restore the glory of that era, otherwise... Tsk, the so-called enjoyment here is nothing but empty talk."

"We can't stop because there's a huge carrot dangling in front of us."

".Understood."

Ji Xing nodded thoughtfully and asked:
"So you really are from before the Cataclysm?"

"You traveled through time?"

“It doesn’t matter how you interpret it.”

Chen Jian didn't intend to hide too much. After all, this was not a big secret.

He just answered casually:

"You can think of it this way - we have seen the era before the Cataclysm, and when we woke up, we are already in the present."

".How lucky."

Ji Xing sighed and said with emotion.

"What kind of luck is this?"

Chen Jian was puzzled, and Ji Xing waved his hand and explained:

"I'm not saying that you are lucky to be here. What I mean is that you are lucky to have witnessed that extremely prosperous era."

"So, what was the world and people like at that time?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Xie Liu and the others looked over at the same time.

Although they had all watched the promotional video that Lei Jie played for them, it was still too abstract for them.

They just "see" but cannot understand.

Noticing their looks, Chen Jian put down the cutlery in his hand.

Then he said seriously:
"It wasn't the best of times for people who lived in that era."

“But there is no doubt that it is an era that is definitely worthy of history.”

Chen Jian told the story slowly.

He did not talk about the high-speed trains traveling at high speeds, the giant passenger planes flying in the sky, the stories of moving mountains and filling the sea, or the war machines that were so terrifying and even a little crazy.

He just described to a few holy blood people an extremely ordinary day that he had personally experienced. Even such an ordinary day, to a few holy blood people, it was like a fairy tale told by an old man.

The more technology is deposited at the bottom level, the more unimaginable it is for people here.

After he finished speaking, the fascination in the eyes of several people, including Ji Xing, could no longer be suppressed.

".Can we humans go back to that era?"

"Why not?"

Chen Jian said without hesitation:
"This is undoubtedly humanity's darkest hour, but rest assured, we will get through this."

"All right."

"The break is over, it's time to get down to business."

"We will organize the first close reconnaissance at 6 a.m. tomorrow. Everyone, be ready."

"This reconnaissance is of vital importance!"

At six o'clock in the morning, when the first ray of sunlight pierced through the morning mist, Chen Jian's team of eight set off on time.

At this time, they were still nearly 50 kilometers away from the core area of the Jinling ruins, which was not the best starting distance for a close reconnaissance activity.

But they have no other choice.

Because according to Ji Xing, the area 30 kilometers away from the center of the Jinling ruins is a dangerous area. Even if you don’t run into the level monster head-on, you may still be in danger due to various "strange events".

Therefore, they must reserve sufficient safe space so that they can evacuate in time if they find that something is wrong.

As for the matter of "locking down the monster's whereabouts", it must be advanced step by step and a sufficient safe zone must be demarcated before further consideration can be made.

Heading north along the G205 Expressway, Chen Jian and his companions maintained a relatively slow pace.

The drones had already taken off. In the first 10 kilometers, they could still find a little trace of human activities, but after entering the 40-kilometer range of the central area, the entire area was like a cliff with no trace of human beings.

".The human settlements around here are very strange - why are all the houses built on trees?"

“Even if they are not built on trees, the houses are elevated with supports.”

"House on stilts? Is this a custom?"

Lei Jie was a little confused, while Chen Jian shook his head and said:
"It's not the custom."

"Have you forgotten? This is a monster that spews poisonous gas."

"According to previous intelligence, the poison gas it emits can spread to a radius of up to 10 kilometers, and within this range, the concentration of the poison gas is enough to be lethal."

"That means that within 30 to 50 kilometers, the poison gas can still cause harm."

"The people in the surrounding settlements must have discovered some characteristics of the poison gas and are avoiding it by raising their living positions."

"This means that the quality of this poison gas is lower than that of air and it is likely to settle to the ground."

"understood."

Lei Jie nodded, and while observing the road conditions, he continued to speak:
"That also explains the abnormal behavior of the road nearby - the thick moss-like vegetation on the ground should be the product of poisonous gas deposition."

"Should we bring an air call? If we get poisoned, the rest of our operations will be ruined."

"Being not."

Chen Jian shook his head and said:
"The environmental monitoring system hasn't sounded the alarm yet, so theoretically there's no big problem."

"Our air breathing can only last for 15 minutes. We have to save it for the most critical moment."

"clear."

Lei Jie said no more and the team continued to move forward.

As their route went deeper, the surrounding environment became more and more bizarre.

The signals of biological activity in the forest became increasingly sparse, and even the chirping of birds disappeared.

The sediment on the ground was getting thicker and thicker, and the few people had to slow down the cat car again to avoid being splashed by the dirt from the tires.

"We have entered the monster's activity range."

He continued to speak:
"The fungal mat is getting thicker and thicker. If we continue forward, it should reach a thickness of more than 10 centimeters."

"You have to slow down, once this stuff gets on you."

"Depend on!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Yue in front of him suddenly started cursing.

He brushed off the sediment that splashed onto his fingers, then raised his hand and frowned as he spoke:
"This stuff is corrosive!"

Chen Jian looked in the direction of the voice and saw that Shen Yue's fingers were already red and swollen from being bitten by the corrosive liquid.

"It feels like some kind of acid, it hurts!"

"how is this possible?"

Chen Jian ordered the car to stop, and then said:
"If it was acidic, the ground and the steel structure on the elevated road would have been corroded long ago."

"The environmental monitoring system did not sound an alarm, and the pH value in the air is normal."

“But my hands really hurt!”

Shen Yue frowned, raised his hand to check carefully, then bent down, pulled out a dagger and scraped off a thin layer of the "fungal blanket" on the ground.

After careful observation, his expression became more solemn.

"This stuff may not necessarily be acidic."

As he spoke, he opened the supply bag in the car, took out a small piece of dried meat, crushed it into powder, and threw it into the fungal carpet on the tip of the knife.

Some bubbles slowly appeared, he took a long breath and said:
"This isn't acid."

"This is some kind of fucking protease!"

"Protease??"

Chen Jian asked in astonishment:

"Like proteases in pineapple?"

".To be precise, it's the protease found in the Piranha Plant."

Shen Yue shook off the "fungal blanket" on the tip of the knife, then turned to Ji Xing and said:

"Now you know how unreliable the Mechanicus' intelligence is? They actually said that this fungal blanket is harmless!"

"Shit, of course they think it's harmless—they're wearing shoes!"

"By the time they find out this stuff is harmful, everyone will probably be dead!"

".It is true."

Ji Xing had to admit that he had overestimated the reliability of the Mechanicus' intelligence, and this one point alone was enough to label almost all the intelligence as questionable.

But the good news is that they have new clues.

"The active layer formed by a large number of fungi is also known as the fungal mat. There is a bulge every ten meters. It should be a bioelectric pulse node used to coordinate nutrient delivery."

"This thing must be a monster, right? No wonder there are fewer and fewer signs of biological activity around it. Maybe they have all been swallowed by this giant carnivorous plant."

Chen Jian's eyes became a little serious, and Ji Xing on the side said:
"The monster in Jinling City is definitely not this thing. The Mechanicus wouldn't make a mistake about this."

"It is indeed a giant monster. We haven't even reached its core territory yet."

"Then keep walking."

Chen Jian decisively ordered:
“Be more alert and slow down.”

"If you find anything unusual, be ready to evacuate at any time."

"Otherwise, if we get stuck in the fungal blanket, we won't be able to leave even if we want to."

"understand!"

"receive."

Everyone answered meaningfully, and just as the two cat cars turned past the intersection of G205 Expressway and G4211, a strange sight suddenly appeared in front of everyone.

It was a forest.

A forest of fungi!

(End of this chapter)