The Heartthrob Guide: Dodder of S-Class Sentinels

Chapter 263 Hunting Time
Amidst the devastation of the city, a sea of ​​crimson flowers bloomed.

A chilling wind howled past, and blood-red robes fluttered in the air. Each spore had a unique eye embedded in its center, blinking eerily and staring intently at everyone on the battlefield through the spore's membrane.

The city's appearance has vanished, replaced by a hellish, alien landscape that has completely taken over the area. On the black earth beneath their feet, thick black fog rolls up intermittently, from which wronged souls with their eyes still open struggle to crawl out.

Don't abandon us, Colonel...

We don't want to die here...

Help me...it hurts so much...

The murmurs of countless dead echoed in everyone's ears, and the sentinels looked at the scene before them as if they were standing on the edge of an abyss of hell.

These blood-red robes ignited the fear and malice in everyone's hearts, and some sentinels below B-rank suffered mental breakdowns.

"This is..." The assistant in the control room was taken aback upon hearing these murmurs, but quickly recovered and ordered, "Turn the sound waves up to maximum!"

The analysts didn't dare waste a second, ordering the sentries near the detector to recharge the machine with high-grade energy stones. But before they could even open the hatch, several figures attacked from the shadows. Zerg soldiers, like eerie black lightning bolts, silently darted out, their sharp forelimbs dripping with eerie green venom, aiming straight for the two men's backs.

"careful!"

One of the sentries reacted extremely quickly, rolling to the side to narrowly avoid a fatal blow, but three deep cuts were still made on his armor, and the green venom instantly corroded the armor, producing a pungent white smoke.

The other sentry was not so lucky. He was attacked from both sides by two Zerg. Just as he raised his energy gun, a Zerg stinger pierced his throat. He didn't even have time to scream before his body went limp and he fell to the ground. The energy box in his hand crashed to the ground with a thud and rolled several meters away.

"The Zerg are attacking the energy point!" The assistant's heart clenched as he watched the red dot suddenly appear on the screen. "Where are the nearby support teams? Quickly, cover the detector..."

But before he could finish giving his orders, the Zerg, having succeeded, vanished without a trace.

"Damn it!" The assistant slammed his fist on the table in anger, speechless for a long time.

You've always treated us like prey; now it's our turn to hunt!

At this moment, the small alien creature in the sky spoke, its voice still carrying a childlike innocence, yet revealing a coldness and contempt that belied its age. It hovered above the giant red flower, its wings fluttering slightly, and a huge spider shadow appeared directly in front of it.

The spider was as tall as a three-story building, its jet-black carapace gleaming with a cold, metallic sheen, and its eight compound eyes, like crimson jewels set in its head, were fixed on everyone present.

"This is—" When Raun, who had been on the front line, saw the spider, his voice suddenly went limp. His gray-gold eyes widened, filled with shock and disbelief.

This is a Red-Clawed Spider. Perhaps almost no one recognizes him now, but as a core member of the Central White Tower, he knows him all too well. He's no ordinary mutant; he was once the most dazzling rising star of the Central White Tower, second only to the Queen in talent—no, if the Queen didn't possess the inherited power, then he would be even higher in rank than the Queen, the only guide in history to achieve double SS rank!
Unfortunately, at a young age, before he could even show his talent, he "accidentally" perished in District Nine.

The word "accident" pierced Laun's heart like a needle. Laun stared at the spider's phantom, a chill running down his spine.

The spider roared, its sharp screech like the scraping of metal exploding in the eternal night. At this moment, nothing mattered to it anymore; whether it was a sentinel trying to approach or a low-ranking alien species closing in, they were all targets to be torn apart. Wherever its claws passed, flesh and blood flew everywhere.

The corrupted aliens are mindless; their actions are entirely driven by instinct. Even a gifted guide in life is no exception; his aggressive mental transmission is on full display at this moment.

Double S-rank! There are very few Sentinels in the entire world who can reach this rank, let alone two in this battle!

The immense pressure and mental pollution suppressed everyone on the battlefield, preventing them from raising their heads. Laun took off his coat, and golden light shone brightly in his eyes. A golden lion appeared from the void behind him, transforming into a gigantic form, roaring as it charged towards the spider like a missile.

The two energies clashed, creating a powerful shockwave that left everything within a radius of tens of meters with nowhere to hide, forcing them to struggle helplessly in the energy turmoil.

"Quickly analyze where its core strategy lies; the colonel can't hold out for long!" The assistant frantically urged the analyst in the control room. The analyst had practically broken the keyboard, but all he got was "Unable to capture data."

"How could this be?" the assistant asked in disbelief.

"We've been jammed!" The analyst's forehead broke out in a cold sweat. "Granville has become a contaminated zone. You can't receive signals in a contaminated zone!"

The assistant brought up the terminal, and sure enough, the signal strength was intermittent, eventually turning into a completely grayed-out disconnection marker. To make matters worse, the communication frequency between the command center and the outside world also became severely noisy; the originally clear tactical channel was now filled with only a buzzing sound of electricity.

The command center was deathly silent, save for the hum of the instruments and the sound of rapid breathing. Everyone knew what losing signal in the contaminated zone meant: they were now an isolated and helpless force, unable to obtain enemy information, unable to call for support, and even their retreat route could be distorted by the contaminated energy.

"What exactly is that thing? It has the same intelligence as humans and can control its other companions..." The analyst stared at the last remaining small alien figure on the screen, speechless with shock.

“What humanity fears has finally arrived.” The assistant leaned against the control panel, his voice tinged with barely concealed helplessness. “Although the alien species have high levels of contamination and are highly aggressive, we were able to fight them because they lacked consciousness and logic, relying solely on instinct to charge. But now…” He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing, “If they truly develop self-awareness, learn to think, strategize, and even cooperate, what difference would there be between them and us humans? Just one of them has already turned Granville into hell. Just think about it—”

"Lieutenant, we still have a way!" someone advised him.

"It's useless, it's useless." The assistant slumped down, covering his face with his hands, his eyes peering through his fingers at the flickering light on the ceiling. The light flashed on and off, much like the last life signal of a dying sentry on the battlefield. His pupils dilated with fear, as if they were about to lose focus, and even his breathing became rapid and labored.

"Those guys are back for revenge. Do you think that five years ago, when so many elite sentinels went into the contaminated area of ​​Centipede Land, only a few of us came out alive..."

(End of this chapter)