First Battle

The two siblings didn't bother bickering.

Bai Jiacao scrambled up, found the medical kit, and expertly prepared tweezers, gauze, syringes, hemostatic gel, and adrenaline.

Meng Chao dragged his semi-automatic rifle to the living room window, skillfully using sofa cushions to create a kneeling firing position.

He squinted, peering out through the firing port in the armor.

In the pitch-black night, the mist that had blanketed the wilderness now crept toward the city like the tentacles of a demon.

Deep within the mist, red and blue lights flickered.

The lights writhed, and monsters gradually revealed their hideous forms.

The mist was not mist.

It was the turbulence of space-time translocation.

Dragon City was a stone, and the Other World was a pond. When a stone was thrown into a pond, it would naturally create layers of ripples.

Having translocated from Earth, Dragon City was fortunate not to have directly descended into a war-torn land of thriving alien civilizations and powerful experts.

There were also space-time turbulences in the form of mist, sheltering them for fifty years, preventing them from being discovered by the Other World's experts.

Unfortunately, the location where Dragon City translocated was a notorious cursed land in the Other World, a paradise for monsters.

Towering mountains formed a natural barrier, like interlocking fangs, inspiring awe and fear.

Hundreds of crystal ore veins buried underground slowly released toxins and radiation, forming bizarre spirit magnetic storm fields, causing plants and animals to grow and mutate wildly.

No one knew how many monster nests were hidden here, or how many new species of monsters would mutate each day.

Because their spaces overlapped, whenever the space-time turbulence triggered tides, the mist would invade the city, tearing open spatial rifts, causing monsters to appear anywhere in Dragon City.

Initially, the people of Dragon City were tormented by the "randomly refreshed" and endless stream of monsters, even fearing the mist and the night.

Fortunately, the martyrs' successive sacrifices allowed them to survive.

Today, the people of Dragon City had basically cleared the Other World areas overlapping with the main urban area, firmly occupying this living space.

Old residential areas like Tianfu Garden had not seen large waves of monsters for a long time.

"Attention, residents, a Flame Black Beetle Swarm has appeared near the kindergarten and is rapidly passing through the Nursing Home and the Garbage Recycling Station. In five minutes, it will impact the Small Plaza.

"'We welcome friends with fine wine, and jackals with shotguns.' Everyone, work harder! Whether we can be rated as a Five-Star Community this year depends on tonight!"

Aunt Cao's high-pitched voice came from the Crystal Loudspeaker atop the community committee's bunker.

The Spirit Energy Oscillator set up in the center of the Small Plaza continuously released infrasound waves inaudible to the human ear, attracting the monsters' attention.

Shasha, shasha, shasha.

Hundreds of Flame Black Beetles were attracted, converging into a black torrent, surging toward the main plaza.

Each Black Beetle was the size of a calf, its black, metallic-lustered shell covered with flame-like patterns. Its pair of oversized mandibles were like two guillotines, capable of biting through iron rods as thick as bowls in one bite.

However, the fortified residential area's streets were deserted, and the buildings were protected by armor, leaving the ferocious beasts' fangs with no place to use their strength.

When the monsters swarmed into the Small Plaza.

Whoosh!

The searchlights set up above the residential buildings suddenly lit up.

Dozens of thick beams of light tore the darkness to shreds, leaving the monsters with nowhere to hide.

Zzzzzzz!

Around the Small Plaza, dozens of high-voltage power towers rising from the ground shot out hundreds of dazzling arcs of electricity, shocking the monsters until they were smoking and unable to move.

Chh-chh-chh-chh!

Even more, dozens of automated combat fortresses resembling tortoise shells shattered crystals inside, releasing high-temperature, high-pressure Spirit Energy to propel projectiles, which roared out like a torrential rain toward the monsters.

The principle was similar to the air guns of the Earth era.

But using Spirit Energy to drive them naturally made them a hundred times more lethal than compressed air.

The Flame Black Beetle Swarm were first shocked into a daze by the electricity, and then riddled with holes by the projectiles. Even with their hard shells, insect juices splattered everywhere, and they suffered heavy casualties.

"Meng Chao, how's the battle going?"

Meng Yishan had invited Grandma Wang from next door.

And Grandma Wang's pet, a hound whose fangs had been genetically modified to resemble a Saber-Toothed Hound.

The two families were very close. As soon as the Saber-Toothed Hound entered, it circled Bai Jiacao, wagging its tail vigorously.

"It's still holding up for now, we've stabilized it." Meng Chao turned back. "Grandma Wang, are you alright?"

"Good lad, you think this old woman's arms and legs are too old, eh?"

Grandma Wang, carrying a shotgun, was beaming with health, acting her age. "Have you seen the chaos of just transmigrating to the Other World? How many zombies did you kill during the virus outbreak? How many years have you fought in the monster war? Back then, your grandpa and I..."

"Grandma Wang, I was wrong, I know you're definitely alright. Please keep an eye on my mom and my sister, thank you!" Meng Chao was a little bit pained.

"Don't worry, don't think that just because this old woman can't even bite through rhinoceros meat anymore, the old thing in my hands is not to be trifled with!"

Grandma Wang shook her shotgun, unceremoniously pushed Meng Chao aside, got into a standard kneeling position, and leaned up to the observation hole.

"Oh, so many Flame Black Beetles, our Five-Star Community is going to get rich!"

The old woman grinned from ear to ear.

In this era, the people of Dragon City were very confident.

After coming to the Other World for decades, Earth's industry, Spirit Energy technology, and genetic martial arts had gradually merged. The fighting power of the people of Dragon City had soared, and they no longer regarded monsters as a threat.

In the eyes of the people of Dragon City, seemingly ferocious monsters were just food and raw materials for building the city.

Dragon City was surrounded by mist, with limited space and scarce resources. Every wave of monster invasion was a gift from heaven.

Monsters were treasures from head to toe.

Their flesh and blood contained rich nutrients, and their shells and bones, when ground up, could be used to refine super-strong alloys. Their mucus was often a high-quality additive or fuel.

Inside many powerful monsters, there were also various spiritualized organs and crystalline bodies, which were the best cultivation resources.

Alien beasts invading another world are just giving earthlings money, equipment, and experience points.

But Meng Chao knew that tonight wouldn't be so simple.

Sure enough.

Although the first wave of Flame Black Beetles was beaten to a pulp.

But tonight's fog was particularly thick, and more and more Flame Black Beetles gushed out from the depths of the fog, crowding the streets.

Their carapaces scraped against each other, making a sharp noise, even sparking.

Hundreds of Flame Black Beetles rushed towards the Small Plaza of the Five-Star Community like moths to a flame, recklessly pushing down the first high-voltage power tower, and the mountains of corpses also blocked the firing holes of the automated cannons.

"So many?"

Grandma Wang's face changed.

The experienced old woman smelled danger.

Buzz buzz buzz!

In the second wave of attacking monsters, the carapaces of many Black Beetles cracked open, and huge transparent wings stretched out, and they flew up somewhat clumsily.

"It's a mutated species of Flame Black Beetle, the Flying Flame Beetle!"

Meng Yishan frowned deeply, wiped his face, and knelt on one knee in the shooting position next to him, "A'Chao, tonight is going to be a little troublesome, pay attention to saving bullets, and shoot when they get closer."

Among the hundreds of Flame Black Beetles, there were about twenty or thirty mutated species that could fly.

They crossed the high-voltage power tower and the combat fortress, and flew towards the residential buildings.

Immediately, crisscrossing lines of fire spewed out from the residential buildings.

It was a pity that the flight trajectory of the Flying Flame Beetles was erratic, and their carapaces were slippery and curved, making it difficult for bullets to latch on.

Even if they hit the target, as long as the angle wasn't right, they would bounce off the carapace.

"Damn it."

Meng Yishan's first burst of bullets missed, only drilling a hole in the transparent wings of a Flying Flame Beetle, but it was still flying.

He cursed impatiently.

He immediately regretted it, he shouldn't have lost his composure in front of his son, otherwise wouldn't the little guy be even more nervous?

Meng Chao had no time to be nervous.

He carefully looked at the information floating in front of him:

[The fire of civilization needs steel and blood to guard it. Do you want to start the first battle mission "Alien Insect Hunter"?]

[In tonight's battle, kill ten Flame Black Beetles and three Flying Flame Beetles, and make a contribution to defending your home!]

[Reward for the first battle mission: 1500 Contribution Points, and you can choose any Basic Skill to increase by one level]

"Activate!"

Meng Chao slightly adjusted his breathing and heartbeat, turning a deaf ear to the gunshots and the screams of the monsters around him.

For a moment, there was silence.

Every detail of Basic Gunmanship transformed into neural currents, surging into his fingertips like lightning, firmly attaching his ten fingers and the firearm together.

His gaze seemed unfocused, not fixed on any single monster.

But he was scanning the entire battlefield, turning the monsters' movement trajectories, the flapping of their wings, wind speed, and wind direction into a dazzling array of data.

"Chao, are you scared? Or should I do it?"

Meng Chao had been kneeling and aiming for a long time, which Grandma Wang misunderstood.

The old woman was carrying a large-caliber shotgun, but its range was too short, making it unsuitable for dealing with flying targets at long distances.

Seeing Meng Chao holding a semi-automatic rifle, not firing a single shot for a long time, as if he were frightened by the monsters, she was anxious and a little envious.

Before she finished speaking.

Bang, bang, bang!

Meng Chao made his move.