The Tree Demon Hag

Compared to other oases, the Auto City and the Scavenger City are very close, only 200km apart as the crow flies. If an armored vehicle were to set off at full speed, it would only take an hour to travel between them.

The senior engineer used to grind monsters in the urban area, leaving early and returning late, his schedule as tight as that of an urban white-collar worker, except that the radiation beasts didn't provide meals.

Now, the empty and desolate road has long been covered by dark light. In the darkness, heavy footsteps or the low roars of wild beasts can be heard from time to time. One beast roars, and all beasts cry out in unison.

"To be honest, Captain, I'm a little scared," a newcomer said in a low voice, wiping his sweat and looking at a group of crawlers walking by in the distance.

"What's there to be afraid of!" Saber Tamil sneered, forcefully fixing the mechanical legs of the large emulation device, then connecting the wires to the electrical box of the abandoned gas station, which resembled a 'high-tech projector'.

Most gas station electrical boxes were damaged; this was one of the few intact.

A gas station and four sets of large-scale motion-sensing equipment can cover an area of approximately 10km.

"Of course, we're afraid they'll take action."

"Cowards, the boss has already implanted desert skin in us, so the signals inside our bodies can't get out at all. They won't be interested in us. Hurry up and get to work; we still have to go to the next stop."

"But we're human, won't they be interested in us?"

The newcomer grumbled as he worked.

These large-scale immersive devices are typically used in nightclubs within entertainment complexes. Once activated, they can simulate thousands of "girls" dancing with you, providing incredibly realistic touch, hearing, and even the scents of women's perfume and sweat.

If you pay enough, "they" can even take you to virtual parties—provided you have enough kidneys.

The only drawback is that its visual simulation is not good enough, only 50% of the original. If it's not a dark environment with loud music, it's easy to spot the flaws.

Of course, to prevent the deception from being exposed, nightclub owners would mix in enough companion robots or android maids to make them look real.

"In my previous tribe, the elders had a rule that we weren't allowed to go to amusement parks in order to increase the tribe's baby production. I haven't even used one myself, yet they're giving it to wild animals. What a waste!" The newcomer shook his head and sighed.

"Aren't they all cloned babies now? They're raised to adulthood in factories and then distributed to various oases. My oasis has 10,000 slots this year," another mechanical hunter said.

"If this continues, I think the indigenous people will become extinct in our generation."

"Why worry about so much? As long as I can support myself, that's enough."

"Yes, as long as you have enough machine coins, you can even reserve a wife, any age is fine."

"How much to reserve a wife?"

Just as the other man was about to boast about his experiences, Tamil suddenly swung his arm knife, the bright red blade making a piercing sound as it was compressed by the high-pressure spring.

Suddenly, a crawler appeared in the corner, coldly staring at the group.

"Grass!"

"A beast!"

"Watch out for its tongue!"

However, Tamil, who was the first to discover it, flung his hand away, put away his arm blade, and continued to work with his head down.

The crawler began to transform, shrinking in size, growing skin, and eventually becoming a gloomy old man.

"You guys are so careless. So, it seems the quality drops when there are too many people?" the wriggler mocked.

The others looked at each other, their expressions somewhat ashamed.

"You little bastard, come with me."

Tamil shook the oil off his hands and said without looking up, "I still have work to do."

"Just leave it to these newbies. The boss has a new mission: to hunt down B-grade radioactive beasts."

Tamil's eyes lit up, and he followed the wriggler out in a few quick steps.

The remaining people looked at each other, then went back to their work.

Tamil and the Creeper went outside and got into the heavy armored vehicle driven by Ironhide. The vehicle was covered with a camouflage net made of "inferior desert skin" and the engine had been modified, so it drove very quietly in the dark.

"Didn't we agree to take action tomorrow?"

"The situation has changed a bit," the crawler said, opening the in-vehicle virtual projection. On the map surrounding the Auto City and Scavenger City, there were dense green dots, covering 80% of the area.

"The installation of the motion-sensor equipment went much more smoothly than expected. For some reason, those annoying mechanical birds didn't show up tonight."

"The boss's idea is that since they're not coming, we should try something."

"It should have been like this a long time ago!" Tamil slammed his fists together, his eyes burning with fervor. He had no interest in gossip, pleasure, or procreation. His only reason for becoming a mechanical hunter was that there were plenty of prey to kill here.

Both humans and beasts can be prey.

His temperament is well-suited to this profession.

The Creeper, seeing Tamir's eagerness to attack, warned, "Don't underestimate B-grade radiation beasts. Their power is far beyond our imagination. Even bosses, under normal circumstances, may not reach the level of B-grade beasts."

Tamil glanced at the writher and said disdainfully, "If that's the case, then why did this operation even happen?"

"Because we are the hunters and we are the prey, we don't need to surpass them in every aspect, we only need to surpass them in one aspect."

"The old folks did a great job on this."

Although the Creeper was quite old, even older than the youngest of the old hunters, he still called them old things.

This is a very special kind of praise.

On the way, Tinpi received a phone call. In this environment where electronic signals were severely interfered with, even a phone call was made by a third-party Cyber Hacker.

"Hmm? Okay, I understand."

After hanging up the phone, Iron Man turned the car around, floored the accelerator, and the camouflage paint job fluttered as he spun around in a blur.

Before the two could ask any questions, Ironhide spoke up.

"We're too late. A B-grade vomiting behemoth has already been taken down. Let's move on to another scene."

"They took them down!?" Both the creeper and Tamil were stunned.

The worm instinctively looked out the window, and in the darkness, it seemed as if a mountain of corpses stood at the edge of its vision.

The Vomiting Giant, the Radiation Beast-Rotten Species, is known as the largest monster among B-grade beasts. Imagine it as a mountain of flesh with the height of a mutated giant, its height and width being almost the same.

Among Class B radioactive beasts, it is considered a universally hated creature.

Every B-rank beast has its own territory—except for the Vomiting Giant.

The reason it doesn't have its own territory is that everything within its territory, whether mutated plants or low-level radiated beasts, will be quickly eaten by it, and the instinct of hunger drives it to go out to find food.

In order to get food, it has fought against almost every B-rank beast.

Its methods are also unremarkable; apart from massive amounts of corrosive liquid, it has almost no other offensive means.

But it has almost never been defeated by beasts of the same level.

There's no other reason than its insatiable instinct to devour everything, which gives it a terrifying amount of health. In this respect, even an A-level radiation beast can't compare to it.

Normally, even A-level radiation beasts despise it, and if it appears in their territory, they will not hesitate to use the authority of their 'genetic territory' to drive it out.

However, it must be said that it is very useful in the midst of a beast tide, as there are almost no effective countermeasures against such a massive tank with high health.

Unless the security forces disregard the rising beast tide energy and use the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles to blast it away.

"Those old guys are really something," the Worm exhaled and said.

As one of the few hunters with the ability to transform into different creatures, he had been invited to spar with this group of veteran hunters, so he was well aware of their strange and dangerous abilities.

In a sense, they could even be considered normal people with some of the abilities of a Class B radiated beast.

"We've arrived at the battlefield!"

From a distance, one could see bizarre electronic buildings rising from the ground, with countless mechanical beasts running rampant within them.

The way to distinguish friend from foe is simple: your own mechanical beast has a specially made "neural frequency amplifier" hanging on its ear.

This equipment allows them to avoid interference from the "monster-opening artifact" and directly receive commands from the rider.

Whenever a chaotic horde of beasts invades the area outside "Electronic City," they will block them back.

The B-level radiated beasts are already able to wield some of the beast tide's authority.

This means that to deal with them, one must first break through the boundless waves of wild beasts.

During the initial "Operation Amputation," our side was able to deploy half of its forces, and almost even the mechanical defense line was breached.

However, the combination of "simulation device" and "monster-attracting artifact" can trap the beast horde in the maze.

Of course, the biggest contributor to this is the senior engineer.

Although he embarked on the path of "carbon-based" + "mechanical", he could not use his knowledge and skills from his previous life in most cases.

Even with limited equipment and technology, the senior engineer can still use his past-life perspective to show off his amazing skills in creating this "virtual reality" experience.

The creation of a virtual environment covering an area of over 200km would be at least level five if measured in terms of blueprint quality.

"Hold on tight, I'm about to go for a race."

Tin Man let out an excited scream and pressed a button on the armored vehicle.

"Look at my newly customized liquid nitrogen injector!"

The next moment, Tamil and the Creeper were jerked backward, feeling just like they were sitting on a rocket launcher.

After a frantic charge, during which they knocked over dozens of wild beasts, the two finally stormed into the center of the battlefield.

To their surprise, the one who made the move was not the boss, but his strange biologically modified army.

That unit that has already proven to be a failure.

Their opponent is a tree root that can crack the ground and grow countless tentacles.

Like the Metal Nest, this Root Monster is also a 'Nest-type Boss'. Its attack method is very peculiar. At the end of each root hangs a radiated beast or mechanical beast, some of which are even mechanical hunters. These humanoid creatures live in a way that is neither human nor ghost.

At first glance, it looks like a "parade of a hundred demons".

In short, the scene was quite a spectacle for the Tree Demon Granny.