Choking Nest

The phenomenon of dead people coming back to life was something Xiao Xiao couldn't accept or understand from the bottom of his heart.

It wasn't scientific at all.

But seeing the nerves and flesh connecting the corpses, he immediately thought of the city itself, a huge, wriggling monster.

Then it became acceptable.

It was just some monster or will, similar to the city, controlling these corpses that had died of suffocation.

Crack, crack, crack...

As he pondered the rationality of this phenomenon, the grating sound of bones shifting echoed around him. More corpses twisted and struggled to climb up from the ground in grotesque postures.

They convulsed in agony, their chests rising and falling as if under immense pressure.

Their spasming fingers frantically clawed at their own necks, as if trying to tear a hole to let fresh air in.

And at their feet, or on their backs, without exception, was a strange, crazed mass of flesh, twisting, writhing, and spreading out from the warehouse like a spiderweb, growing beneath their feet. The entire warehouse looked like a giant spiderweb, dim and oppressive, the suffocating sense of despair combined with the waving arms of the dead turning the warehouse into a ghastly hell of dancing corpses.

"This is a Choking Nest!"

Ruan Ruan, who had been following him from a distance, had a tight expression on her small face, clearly somewhat nervous: "The Suffocation Puppet has upgraded its surrounding environment, turning this warehouse into a Choking Nest."

"Which means... a C-level mission?"

Xiao Xiao reacted instantly, cursing inwardly: Who the hell is in charge of intelligence?

They can even get the level wrong, do they even have brains?

But even as he cursed, Ruan Ruan quickly stepped forward with her wrench, her delicate face looking at Xiao Xiao, and said somewhat seriously:

"You can withdraw from the mission now, and I'll take over."

"The upgrade of the Choking Nest is our mistake, we only detected it two hours ago..."

"Alas, we are very weak now, and our monitoring of this city has declined..."

"..."

"It's not just that..."

Listening to Ruan Ruan's explanation, Xiao Xiao, standing in the middle of a crowd of twisted corpses, had already thought of many problems:

"We still don't know how the Outsider organization monitors and discovers the Aberrant Creatures that are everywhere in this city, or how they collect intelligence..."

"But, judging from the city's attitude towards the old city, we know that the city's own operating logic has already had major flaws."

"The Guard Hall doesn't even dare to patrol here casually, so this warehouse that eats people has appeared, and so many people have 'drowned' here, but no one else has discovered it..."

"Even the city's own operating logic has gone wrong, so it seems normal for the Outsider to make some mistakes in monitoring."

"But, just give up on the mission like this?"

"..."

Seeing Ruan Ruan's reaction, even if he gave up, he wouldn't lose face...

But the Points are going to fly away...

Right now, he was severely lacking in Points, and was even about to have them cleared...

In a very short time, Xiao Xiao realized that he still had to continue with this mission.

Besides, the surrounding area was full of writhing corpses, which looked dangerous, but in fact, didn't this give him the key clues to solve the problem?

If the warehouse had become a giant flesh spiderweb at this time, then the Suffocation Puppet was the source of the spiderweb.

Following those writhing flesh, he could definitely find it!

He immediately shook his head and said to Ruan Ruan, "There's no need to give up yet. Keep an eye on me, and help me out if I really can't handle it..."

"Ah?"

Ruan Ruan looked at Xiao Xiao's serious face, her expression a little dazed: "Xiao-gege's profile is so good-looking..."

"...No, is he overestimating his strength? He's already confirmed that the crisis has escalated, but he still wants to solve it himself?"

"Are the newbies these days starting to act like domineering CEOs?"

"..."

The two didn't have much time to communicate, and the writhing corpses were already swarming towards them.

They were in agony, their chests constantly squeezed like pressure pumps with no outlet, their bodies tearing at themselves unconsciously, yet they staggered towards them from all directions.

And as they approached, they brought not only a shocking visual impact, but also a suffocating sensation that grew stronger and stronger.

Because of the lack of air, everything around them was covered in a hazy, distorted aura, and the staggering figures approached like tormented souls in an oil painting.

"I must find the Suffocation Puppet as soon as possible..."

Xiao Xiao quickly made a decision, rushing towards the depths of the warehouse, and calculating the most crucial elements in his mind.

Breathing...

He hadn't even found the Suffocation Puppet yet, and his life was already on a countdown.

If a normal person held their breath, they could probably last one to two minutes, and if they had been trained, they could even reach ten or twenty minutes.

But now, influenced by the Choking Nest, it wasn't just about being unable to breathe.

This feeling of suffocation seemed to increase in intensity without end, making one feel heavier and heavier, as if crushed by a mountain.

Only breathing could alleviate this sensation, but not only did they no longer have the ability to breathe, even the meager air within their bodies was being forcibly extracted, forcing them into asphyxiation.

Under these circumstances, how long could one survive?

Forty seconds, or thirty?

"Bang!"

Ruan Ruan clearly wasn't as meticulous as Xiao Xiao, but she knew the danger at this moment.

Casually swinging her wrench, she sent a Suffocation Puppet that had approached him flying away. The immense force shattered the corpse's head and half its chest, sending chunks of rotten flesh flying.

She also looked anxiously at Xiao Xiao rushing into the depths of the warehouse, wanting to dissuade him but not knowing how.

Although this mission was initially given to Xiao Xiao with the intention of observing his potential, it was undoubtedly unsuitable at the moment.

The mission's difficulty exceeded the limits of what a novice could handle. Xiao Xiao should escape from here before he succumbed to suffocation, otherwise, she wouldn't be able to help him.

She couldn't exactly give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, could she?

But she hadn't expected Xiao Xiao to be so quick, completely ignoring her explanations and rushing forward.

Was he forcing her to give him CPR?

"Time is of the essence. I can only assume I have forty seconds of activity left..."

"That's only because my body has already been strengthened. Otherwise, I might not even last twenty seconds..."

"..."

In extreme tension, the thoughts in Xiao Xiao's head ran wild like a pack of huskies off their leash, bringing him all sorts of judgments and ideas, mixed with a bit of uncontrollable extraneous thoughts.

As he pondered, the twisted corpses around him swarmed towards him.

Someone suddenly looked up at Xiao Xiao, their neck bulging like a frog's. In their dim eyes, as if affected by the pressure within their bodies, blood was constantly flooding into the retina, turning them blood red.

Someone painfully raised their spasming arms, as if the pain of suffocation was too much to bear, and they wanted to vent their suffering on other living things nearby.

The route was blocked, and Xiao Xiao was about to be submerged.

In that instant, Xiao Xiao realized his situation, feeling only dull oppression. Tension and a relatively small amount of panic surged uncontrollably from the bottom of his heart, about to fill his entire body.

He was sure the Suffocation Puppet was inside, but these corpses were not easy to deal with.

The power of mental explosion allowed Xiao Xiao to do many things that others couldn't in a short amount of time, such as analyzing, planning, and finding opportunities.

But there were also some things he couldn't do.

Like math problems.

If he didn't know how, he just didn't know how. Even if his mind exploded a hundred times, he still couldn't solve it.

The scene before him was the same.

The surging corpses in front of him almost completely blocked all routes. Although his body had been strengthened, he still felt somewhat inadequate in the face of hands reaching out from all directions.

Of course, deep down, Xiao Xiao didn't really want to engage in close combat with these corpses.

It was too disrespectful to the deceased...

But was there really no way out?

Besides turning around and calling for Ruan Ruan to save him, how else could he solve the problem?

With the tension in his heart, Xiao Xiao's mental explosion ability reached its peak. Everything around him seemed to have stopped, including the desperate hands reaching out to grab him.

He observed every detail with all his might, trying to find a solution.

The air in his chest was rapidly decreasing, and he probably only had a few dozen seconds of action left.

In such a short amount of time, was there a chance to solve the problem?

There had to be.

All the informational elements around him were reflected into Xiao Xiao's mind at this moment, constantly planning, trying, deducing, and testing. Finally...

...a bold idea appeared in his mind.

"Summon—Demolition Hounds!"

Having settled on a plan, Xiao Xiao unhesitatingly recited these words in his mind.

"Woof woof woof..."

Seeing Xiao Xiao, who was rushing forward, being blocked by the shadows, Ruan Ruan behind him had already clenched her fists. However, because Xiao Xiao himself had chosen to continue, she could only frown and watch him crash head-on.

Although he had been strengthened, his skills, which clearly lacked experience, still seemed somewhat clumsy.

However, just as those corpses blocked Xiao Xiao's path and reached out with spasming hands to pull him over, a fierce whimper suddenly rang out.

Xiao Xiao, who was running forward, was illuminated by the flashlight Ruan Ruan was holding in his mouth, casting several scattered shadows.

And within these shadows, there were three that were becoming darker and darker, more and more profound, as if they were taking on substance, spreading out like capes on either side of his body.

A fierce, low whimper resounded from his shadows. Immediately afterward, three strong and swift Demolition Hounds jumped out of the shadows, running forward with Xiao Xiao.