America: The Cremator

Chapter 177 Cocoon Exhibition Hall!

Lucia frowned slightly as she looked at the ashes on the ground and whispered a reminder: "Advisor Suron, according to FBI operational procedures, shouldn't we keep some bodies for fingerprint and DNA sampling? Otherwise, we can't verify their identities."

Surong stopped and looked back at her: "Agent Lucia, we're dealing with a group of bizarre lunatics with a B-level faith. They won't be like corpses in a morgue, obediently waiting for us to take samples."

"Besides, we're on an infiltration mission. Although it's been quite eventful along the way—do you expect to bring a forensic team here to conduct a crime scene investigation? I don't think anyone would be willing to come down with you."

Lucia was taken aback, touched her nose, and didn't argue further. She knew she had been a bit rigid; in their current situation, conventional law enforcement procedures simply wouldn't work.

Marcus grinned and patted Lucia on the shoulder. "Hey, Lucia, don't be so rigid. Advisor Suron's move was so clean and efficient! If we leave these corpses here, and they mutate again, we'll have to kill them all over again."

Lucia nodded and apologized, "Sorry, it's just a professional habit."

Elena stepped forward, interrupting their conversation: "Alright, stay alert, let's keep moving forward."

Upon hearing this, everyone stopped chatting and quickened their pace toward the end of the passage.

Two minutes later, the group stopped in front of the heavy-duty isolation door.

This door is even more extravagant than the explosion-proof door at the entrance. It is made entirely of high-strength alloy and its surface is covered with complex mechanical latches and thick hydraulic rods.

Marcus stepped forward, tapped his fingers on the door, and listened to the dull thud. His expression turned serious as he said, "Captain, this door is too thick. Directional explosive patches won't be enough to break it. We'll have to use C4 for a concentrated blast, but that will generate a lot of noise and will take time to set up."

Elena looked at Sulong, seeking his opinion.

Su Long stared at the heavy-duty isolation door for a while, then shook his head: "No, that's too slow! The other side has already reacted, we can't give them any more time to prepare—you all step back and stand against the wall."

Everyone immediately took a few steps back, looking around warily.

Su Long walked to the door, placed his hands on the alloy door panel, took a deep breath, and purple-gold world-destroying flames surged from his palms, but this time he controlled the shape of the flames.

The flames did not spread outwards; they were all concentrated in the area of ​​the door panel that the hands were in contact with.

The terrifyingly high temperature was forcibly compressed into an extremely small area, and the alloy on the door panel turned red at a visible speed.

soften.

In just over ten seconds, a large hole was melted through the thick alloy door panel. Molten iron flowed down the door panel onto the ground, making a piercing "hissing" sound and sending up a cloud of white smoke. The load-bearing structure of the door panel was completely destroyed.

Su Long took half a step back, raised his right foot, and kicked the rickety door hard.

With a loud bang, most of the door panel collapsed and crashed heavily onto the ground behind it, instantly exposing the space behind the door to everyone.

It was an extremely large underground chamber, with an area comparable to a standard football field.

Countless enormous white cocoons hung from the top of the chamber, each over two meters tall. Beneath the translucent cocoon skin, one could vaguely see some kind of massive creature wriggling.

Several thick pipes extended from the wall, connecting to a huge nutrient tank in the center of the cabin.

The nutrient tank was filled with a murky green liquid that emitted a strong, cloying smell.

Marcus walked in, machine gun in hand, and swallowed hard as he looked at the enormous cocoons covering the ceiling. "My God," he muttered, "how many monsters have these cultists been raising here? What are they planning to do?"

Jack quickly picked up his sniper rifle and observed the cocoons through the scope.

"No trace of human activity was found; the entire compartment contained only these insect cocoons."

Elena gripped her greatsword tightly, warily surveying her surroundings, and instructed, "Maintain formation, and don't touch any cocoons. We'll go straight through and find the entrance to the next level."

The group carefully avoided the cocoons and moved toward a small door opposite the cabin.

Just as the group reached the center of the cabin, Nancy's tablet computer suddenly emitted a piercing alarm. She glanced down at the screen and her face instantly turned deathly pale.

"Captain! Advisor! Thermal imaging shows—everything inside those cocoons is awakening!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a tearing sound, so sharp it made your teeth ache, came from above.

"Sizzle—"

'

The nearest white cocoon suddenly cracked open, releasing a large amount of viscous fluid that spilled onto the ground with a corrosive hissing sound.

Immediately afterwards, a segmented forepaw covered in black barbs emerged from the crack and gripped the edge of the cocoon tightly.

With a low hiss, a huge mutated monster broke free from the cocoon and landed heavily less than ten meters away from the team.

The monster looks like a combination of a moth and a human, magnified countless times.

Its body is distorted into a human shape, but its surface is covered with a thick layer of gray down, and two pairs of broken wings grow on its back, covered with strange eye-shaped patterns.

What's most chilling is its head. It's a completely distorted human face, with facial features covered by a semi-transparent membrane, and the mouthparts split open, revealing two rows of sharp serrations.

"Die, monster!" Marcus roared, and his M249 light machine gun instantly spat out flames.

A hail of bullets struck the monster's torso, splattering large amounts of green fluid.

The monster let out a sharp screech, braving the hail of bullets, and brandishing its barbed forepaws as it lunged at Marcus.

"Bang!"

Jack's sniper rifle fired.

The specially made sterling silver high-explosive warhead accurately hit the monster's head, blasting it into pieces.

The headless corpse lurched forward a few steps due to inertia, then fell heavily to the ground, twitched a few times, and stopped moving.

"Well done, Jack!" Martin shouted in praise.

But before the joy could spread, more intense tearing sounds came from above.

"Sizzle—sizzle—sizzle—"

'

A dozen cocoons burst open at the same time, and one mutated monster after another descended from the sky, surrounding the team.

They flapped their tattered wings, and a layer of visible gray dust instantly filled the air.

Elena's expression immediately turned serious, and she shouted, "Damn it! It's hallucinogenic scales! Check the gas mask's filtration status!"

Marcus and Martin immediately turned their guns on the monsters around them and started firing wildly.

Lucia also drew her pistol and began firing at the monsters that tried to get closer.

However, there were too many monsters, and they moved extremely fast, making it difficult for bullets to inflict fatal damage on them.

A monster dodged Martin's barrage of fire and suddenly lunged at Nancy from the side.

Nancy gasped and frantically raised her tablet to try and block it.

Just as the monster's claws were about to touch Nancy, a flash of silver light appeared, and the monster was cleaved in two.

Elena drew her greatsword, green fluid splashing all over her, but she didn't bother wiping it off. With a backhand slash, she forced back another monster that was trying to ambush her.

"Suppress them with firepower! Don't let them get close!" Elena shouted.

Su Long stood in the center of the group, his brows furrowing slightly as he looked at the increasing number of mutated monsters around him.

These things are clearly not the B-grade butterfly monster; at most, they are some mutated derivatives of the butterfly after being infected by scale powder.

But there were just too many of them, and if they continued to fight it out, the squad would eventually run out of ammunition.

Moreover, the concentration of airborne dust is increasing, and the filter canisters of gas masks won't last long.

He raised his hands, and the purple-gold flames of destruction once again condensed in his palms.

"Marcus! Jack! Cease fire!" Suron shouted.

Upon hearing the order, the two men, though puzzled, immediately released the triggers and quickly retreated.

Su Long took a sudden step forward, and the purple-gold flames of destruction instantly erupted from his palm. The intense heat distorted the surrounding air, causing it to explode with a deafening roar.

Flames climbed up his arms and quickly enveloped him completely, forming a crown made entirely of pure firelight that slowly took shape above his head.

Immediately afterwards, the ripples of the domain spread wildly in all directions from Su Long as the center, and the originally cold and damp underground cabin was instantly transformed into a domain of billions of crematorium furnaces.

The surrounding temperature soared, and a strong smell of burning filled the air.

Marcus, holding the machine gun, froze on the spot, his mouth agape. He stared wide-eyed at the world around him, a world entirely made of steel and fire, his mind completely blank.

Martin nearly dropped his rifle. He rubbed his eyes hard and stammered, "God—"

"Is this...the realm of exorcists?"

Jack peered through his scope at the incinerators that had appeared out of nowhere, large beads of sweat forming on his forehead: "These are—incinerators?"

Lucia's hand holding the pistol trembled slightly. She turned to Elena, trying to get some explanation from the captain.

Elena stood slightly behind and to the side of Sulong, her expression relatively calm. After all, she had already witnessed Sulong's domain. She gripped her greatsword tightly and loudly reminded everyone, "Don't stand still! Look up!"

Everyone looked up abruptly.

Surong's domain ripples had spread upwards, directly locking onto the hundreds of giant cocoons hanging from the ceiling.

The moment the ripples swept across, the thick pipes connecting the cocoons and the nutrient tanks were forcibly severed, and large amounts of murky green liquid sprayed out from the cut.

Without the support of its suspension, hundreds of cocoons fell from mid-air like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Dull impacts rang out one after another on the anti-slip steel plate, and large amounts of green bodily fluid splashed everywhere, landing on the scorching steel plate and immediately evaporating into pungent white smoke.

"Fire! Don't let them crawl out!" Elena yelled.

Marcus snapped out of his daze and immediately pulled the trigger. The M249 spewed a half-meter-long tongue of fire from its muzzle, and a dense barrage of bullets rained down on the falling cocoons.

Jack and Martin reacted quickly, opening fire to suppress the enemy; the gunfire was deafening in the enclosed steel space.

The cocoons that had crashed onto the steel plate burst open, and thick bodily fluids mixed with broken membranes flowed all over the ground.

Then, one after another, mutated monsters struggled to crawl out of their broken cocoons.

They flapped their tattered wings and emitted sharp cries, attempting to attack the squad members.

Su Long stood at the front of the group, watching the endless stream of monsters, a mocking smile curving his lips.

He raised his right hand and casually snapped his fingers.

"Smack."

The crisp snap of fingers pierced through the dense gunfire.

The next instant, hundreds of huge crematorium doors on the anti-slip steel walls beside and behind Su Long burst open simultaneously.

Dark red flames erupted from the depths of the furnace, and humanoid flames, formed entirely of purple-gold world-destroying fire, roared as they crawled out of the hatch.

"What the hell is that?" Nancy exclaimed in surprise, clutching her tablet.

"Never mind what it is, keep firing!" Lucia shouted as she changed magazines.

These fire-breathing beings completely ignored the squad members behind them, charging straight at the mutated monsters that had just emerged from their cocoons.

A mutated monster swung its barbed forepaws and slammed them into the chest of a fire-man.

The fire-man's body was torn open, but it didn't even pause. It opened its burning arms and hugged the monster tightly.

The monster let out a piercing scream, and its gray fur instantly burst into flames, emitting a nauseating, burnt smell.

Immediately afterwards, the fire-man's body suddenly swelled up.

"boom--!"

A violent purple-gold fireball exploded in the monster horde, the terrifying shockwave carrying extreme heat, instantly burning the dozen or so mutated monsters around it, along with the remains of the cocoons on the ground, to ashes.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Hundreds and thousands of fire-breathing figures charged headlong into the monster horde, and the continuous explosions echoed throughout the underground chamber, as the purple-gold sea of ​​fire completely engulfed the area in front.

The monsters that tried to spew hallucinogenic powder were vaporized by the high temperature before the powder could even disperse.

Marcus put down the overheated machine gun in his hand and stared in disbelief at the apocalyptic scene before him.

"This—this is too outrageous." He swallowed hard, feeling like the machine gun in his hand was just a toy.

Martin wiped the sweat from his face and chuckled dryly, "I suddenly feel like we might have just come here tonight to make up the numbers."

The fire burned for a full three minutes before gradually subsiding.

The front half of the cabin had been completely cleaned, leaving not a single drop of green bodily fluid, only the scorching red anti-slip steel plates.

Su Long lowered his hand, but his brows furrowed slightly.

Although the explosion cleared out most of the grunts, there were still dozens of cocoons deep inside the compartment that were not affected.

These cocoons seemed to sense a deadly threat; they began to wriggle violently, rapidly squeezing and fusing together to form a gigantic white cocoon that was over ten meters tall.

Large amounts of green liquid flowed down the cocoon skin, and the entire cocoon emitted a dull sound like a heartbeat.

"Thump—thump—thump—"

The next instant, a huge crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the giant white cocoon.

"Sizzle!"

A gigantic butterfly, so large it was almost suffocating, slowly crawled out of the crack.

Its wingspan exceeds twenty meters, and its wings are covered with strange patterns.

What's most chilling is its enormous head.

It was a deformed human head magnified countless times, with two constantly rotating spiral-shaped eyeballs in the place where the eyes were.

As those two eyeballs moved, a visible purple ripple instantly spread out.

"It's mental pollution! Don't look into its eyes!" Elena shouted.

But it was too late. Everyone except Surong and Elena was stunned at the same time.

Su Long stood at the front, and the purple ripples swept over his body as well, blurring his vision for a moment before clearing it again.

"Is that all you've got?" Su Long sneered.

His high mental attribute of 60 points was like an unshakeable fortress in the face of this B-grade mutated and bizarre mental pollution.

Su Long's eyes widened: "Get out of here!"

The violent mental shock was released without reservation, and the invisible mental storm, like a tangible hammer, slammed hard into the head of the giant butterfly.

"grumble--!

The giant butterfly let out a piercing scream, its two spiral-shaped eyeballs instantly bursting, spraying out purple fluid.

Its massive body convulsed violently, and its wings flapped wildly in mid-air.

With the source of their consciousness destroyed, Marcus and the others were instantly jolted awake from the illusion.

"Ugh—" Martin knelt down on the ground and vomited violently. The images from the illusion made his stomach churn.

Marcus was also panting heavily, his face covered in cold sweat: "What the hell was that thing?!"

Ignoring the reactions of the crowd, Su Long looked at the giant butterfly struggling frantically in front of him and suddenly raised his right hand upwards.

"it's over."

As he moved, a piercing metallic scraping sound came from above the dome.

Hundreds of hatches burst open with a roar, and streams of magma poured down, slamming heavily onto the anti-slip steel plate in front of Sulong.

Amidst the scorching heat, a ten-meter-tall fire giant rose from the ground, its left hand gripping a heavy fire tower shield and its right hand wielding a five-meter-long fire sword.

"roar--!"

The fire giant roared, then raised its greatsword and slashed down fiercely at the giant butterfly.

The giant butterfly sensed a deadly threat and frantically flapped its wings in an attempt to escape, but its enormous body had nowhere to hide in the narrow underground space.

"laugh--!"

The flaming greatsword sliced ​​through the giant butterfly's body without any resistance, and then continued downwards, piercing through the giant white cocoon below as well.

The raging purplish-gold magma instantly poured into the monster's body through the wound.

The extreme heat instantly evaporated the monster's internal organs and green fluids, and a large amount of pungent white smoke gushed out from the wound.

The giant butterfly's enormous body tumbled violently on the steel plate, its deformed head tilting upwards, mouth open, emitting an extremely pitiful roar.

Looking at the tumbling monster in front of him, Su Long suddenly raised his hands, palms facing each other, and hovered them in front of his chest.

He clasped his hands together forcefully, making a crushing motion, and then twisted them downwards with force from his wrists.

As Su Long moved his hands, the anti-slip steel plate surrounding the giant butterfly and white cocoon shattered with a crash, and a huge, thick steel curtain rose from the ground.

In just a few seconds, a super incinerator, large enough to contain the entire giant monster, was completely formed, enveloping it and the white cocoon below.

The heavy metal hatch closed shut, and the latches locked automatically.

Su Long pressed down with both hands, and dark red flames instantly shot out from the ventilation vents below the crematorium.

The apocalyptic fire inside began operating at full power, and the purple-gold flames shone out through the observation windows and metal gaps of the hatch, illuminating the entire underground space in a crimson glow.

The extremely pitiful cries of a giant butterfly once again emanated from inside the crematorium.

As the temperature continued to rise, the screams gradually became weaker.

The monster's enormous body, wings, and deformed head covered with spiraling eyes slowly melted under the scorching purple-gold flames. The liquefied remains were completely vaporized by the high temperature before they could drip, eventually turning into ashes flying everywhere in the furnace.

[Burning 22 newborn D-grade butterflies and burning one adult C-grade butterfly yields 42 experience points.]